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SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 

$2.95 

Volume 9, Isfue 38 



INFO 



Expeoae BrcaicQown 



WORLD 



THE 
PC 

NEWS 
WEEKLY 



Lotus Finally 
Drops Copy 
Protection 

By Edward Warner 

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Al- 
though many users reacted with 
cheers as Lotus last week re- 
vealed it would drop copy 
protection from upcoming re- 
leases of 1-2-3 and Symphony, 
some corporate PC profes- 
sionals were uneasy about the 
move. 

Lotus officials said 1-2-3, 
Version 3.0 and Symphony 2.0 
will not be copy-protected, but 
the company stopped short of 
saying all future products would 
be unprotected. While the com- 
pany has made no decision to 
lift copy protection from exist- 
ing versions of 1-2-3 or Sym- 
phony, spokesman Greg Jarboe 
hinted that it would not do so. 
"Copy protection [removal), by 
itself, is not worth the pain and 
suffering of going through an 
upgrade," he said. 

Industry analyst Mike 
Continued on Poge 1 1 7 




Hewleft-Packord will announce this week a new line of Vectras, 
including 20- and 16-MHz, 80386-based floor-standing 
machines and a 286-based desktop PC. See slory. Page 5. 



Microsoft Windows 386 
To Beat 2.0 Out the Door 

Developers Announce Support 



Word Perfect 5.0 to Get 
Graphics Capabilities 



By Scott Moce 

WASHINGTON — Resizable 
graphics. Postscript support, 
and a format header to allow- 
better networking of files are 
some of the new features in 
Word Perfect 5.0, said Alan 
Ashton, Word R'rfect Corp. 



TECHNOLOGY CLOSE-UP 



IBM Designer Sheds Light on 
Micro Channel Architecture 

By Michael J. Miller and Alice LaPlante 



In an exclusive mleniew. 
Chel Heullt. Ilie cltief design- 
er of IBM 's Micro CImnncI 
ArchilecUirv gave InfoWorld 
a close look ai the new bus 
design, delaiiing what il 
means for PC users. Healh 
was inierviewed by 
InfoVJoM following a techni- 
cal seminar Iw .i-ave on the 
.UC.^ atPCE.\po. 



5V 

4* 



IBM's Chet Healh explained 
the Micro Channel's features. 



IBM's Micro Channel .\rchitecture is a versatile and 
complex design whose capabilities will become clear only 
through a long-term education process, according to Heath. 

"The complexity of the Micro Channel is such that il 
makes educating the industry a difTicult job," said I Icalh, w ho 
has been traveling around the world over the past months. 

Continued on Poge 32 



president. 

The new version for the IBM 
PC and compatibles, which has 
been in development for two 
years, will be olTicially an- 
nounced at Comdex and 
shipped in the first quarter of 
1988. said .Ashton to a group of 
federal microcomputer users. 

"You will see the ability in 
5.0 to take graphics in, size 
them, and see them printed with 
text flowing around graphics," 
Ashton told the group. He later 
added that while 5.0 won't offer 
true WYSIWYG, subsequent 
releases will likely display and 
manipulate WYSIWIG text and 
graphics. A preview mode will 
provide a view of graphics be- 
fore printing, Ashton said. 

Word Perfect 5.0 will contain 
other desktop publishing fea- 
tures found in programs such as 
Aldus' Pagemaker and Ventura 
Publisher, Ashton said. For ex- 
ample, users will no longer be 
limited to six or eight lines per 
Continued on Page 1 1 7 



By Peggy Watt 

RLDMOND. WA — A true 
multitasking Microsoft Win- 
dows that will run strictly on 
80386-bascd systems and ac- 
commodate virtually all DOS 
applications will be unveiled 
Wednesday, according to those 
who have seen the product. 

A handful of Windows appli- 
cations developers will also an- 
nounce and show products at 
the announcement. Most of the 
new applications, however, are 
written for Windows 2.0 and 
PC-, XT-, and AT-compatiblc 
systems. Windows 2.0 is expect- 
ed to be announced next month 
with Microsoft's power spread- 
sheet Excel for the PC. said 
sources involved in this week's 



announcement. 

Sources familiar with the 
product say the newest release of 
WindovKS works with DOS as a 
single unit, though it is up to 
OEMs to bundle it with the 
operating system. Both Compaq 
and Unisys are said to be 
planning to include Windows 
386 with 80386-based systems, 
which prompted this week's 
announcement, even before the 
release of Windows 2.0. 

Windows 386 will actually 
resemble Windows 2.0 and the 
OS/2 Presentation Manager in 
its user interface, using overiap- 
ping windows instead of the 
tiled windows of the current 
Continued on Page 117 



Turbo Programs to Link 
Paradox Applications 



By Rachel Parker 

In an announcement designed 
to reinforce its commitment to 
the high-end corporate market, 
Borland last week 
said its Ansa subsid- 
iary is developing five 
versions of Paradox. 

Borland's goal is to 
make it possible for 
corporate program- 
mers to use Turbo 
language programs to write 
Paradox applications that run 
under current DOS, DOS-based 
80386 systems, OS/2, Windows, 
Presentation Manager, and 



AT DEADLINE 



See First 
Look on 
Quattro 
Page 5. 



Unix. Ansa plans to provide 
Paradox for all these environ- 
ments while maintaining 100 
percent file com- 
patibility, a consistent 
user interface, and 
SQL support. 

"We want to lever- 
age the additional 
power of these differ- 
ent operating envi- 
ronments while hiding the 
complexity from the user." said 
Richard Schwartz, vice presi- 
dent of software engineering at 
Continued on Page 117 




Compaq 

In its drive to prove that high-performance 
computing does not require a Micro Channel bus. 
Compaq is expected to introduce a 20-MH7. 
version of its Deskpro 386 and an 80386-based 
version of its Portable II next week, according to 
sources close to the company. 

Along w ith a 20-MHz version of Intel's 80386 
chip, the new Deskpro will include disk caching 
and improved memor> management techniques 
to further boost the speed of the machine. To 



80386 Portable III 



maintain its leadership position in the portable 
market. Compaq will announce the 80386-based 
Portable III. sources said. Sources also said they 
believe Compaq will offer Microsoft's uf)coming 
Windows 386 with the machines. 

Prices of the new systems were not know n, but 
sources report that the current Deskpro 386 and 
Portable II models will not be dropped in price 
when the new machines are announced. 

— Rachel I'arkcr 
Continued on Page 3 



Copyrighted materit; 



Borland's new Hirbo C 



that high-end 
don't have to be 



F 

JL fa 



proves 
compilers 
high-priced compilers 



ast programs instead of 
fest bucks are the rule at 
Borland. Which is why Tbrbo C* 
is so much &ster than Microsoft* C 
and only $99 95 instead of their 
$450.00. We're technically ahead 
of them— look at the Benchmark 
numbers— but way behind them 
on price. Which is not a bad place 
to be. For you. For us. Maybe not 
for them. 

Sieve Benchmark 





TUHio C 


MiciosoiiC 


Compile time 


2.6 


22.41 


Compile and 
link time 


5.9 


24.49 


ExecuftkMi 
time 


6.J9 


10.11 


Obfcctcode 
■lu 


239 


249 


•Ik 


5748 


7136 


Price 


$99.95 


1450.00 



BeiKMrart run on 1 GMHi I8M AT using luto C verMn 1 0 wd ttw Tifbo 
IM« mon 1 0: ktoosoll C nran <.0 an) la MS owlQ llntir 



liirbo C is "high-end" widiout 
being high price 

Tbrbo C has all the features 
found in the high-end Microsoft C 
compiler — except the high price. 
Tbrbo C compiles faster, links fes- 
ter, makes smaller .EXE files, and 
has a quicker edit/compile turna- 
round than Microsoft C. 

Turbo C is an absolutely profes- 
sional compiler at what looks like 
an amateur price. But low cost has 
never meant low quality at Bor- 
land—rely on Turbo C and enjoy 
working with a program that's 
about 5 times faster than Microsoft 
C, and keep that $350.05 diflfer- 
ence in your hands and not theirs. 

Ifes, we have. No, they don't. 







Microsoft C 


Runtime library 

source code 


Yes 


No 


BIOS support 


Ya 


No 


Inline asKinblcT 


Yts 


No 


Automatic register 
variables 


Ya 


No 


Roister pseudo. 
variables 


Ya 


No 


Sample spreadsheet 
source code 


Yea 


No 


Inlcmipt function 


Yes 


No 


Integrated Editor 


Yes 


No 


Integrated Make 


Yes 


No 


Integrated linker 


Yes 


No 


Price under 1100 


Yes 


No 




WMon 1: Edit mmJow C source pseudo-variable (_ XX) to gel to CPU registers 

Wmlow 2: Messsge window Shows warning toe use ol equate in while test 
■LINT syntax checking 

Window 3: Code generation mem 



Technical Specifications 



& Compiler: One-pass optimizing compiler 
linkable Aject modules. 



Included is Borland's high-performance 
Tbrbo linker." The object module is com- 
patible with the PC-d6s linker. Supports 
tiny, small, compaa, medium, large, and 
huge memory model libraries. Can mix 
models with near and far pointers. In- 
cludes floating point emulator (utilizes 
8087/80287 if installed). 

\S Links with relocatable object modules 
created using Borland's 'Ilirtio Prolog into 



a single program. 



Interactive Editor: The system includes a 
powerfiil, interactive Rill-scisen text edit 
If the compiler detects an error, the editor 
automatically positions the cursor approp- 
riately in the source code. 



lowerfiil, interactive Rin-scisen text editor. 



& Development Environment: A powerful 
"Make" is included so that mani^ine 
Hiibo C program development is mgniy 
efficient Also includes pull-down menus 
and windows. 

H' Inline assembly code, 

& Loop optimizations. 

& Register variables. 

& ANSI C compatible. 

H' Start-up routine source code included. 

Sf Both command line and integrated envir- 
onment versions included. 

& License to the source code for Runtinie 
Library available. 



it Turbo C does look like What We've All Been Waiting For: 
a full-featured compiler that produces excellent code 
in an unbelievable hurry . . . moves into a class all its own 
among full-featured C compilers . . . Turbo C is indeed for 
the serious developer . . . One heck of a buy — at any price. 

Michael Abrasb, Programmer's Journal % 




BORLAND 

lUriRNAtlOHAt 

45S5 scons VAlLCYDm. SCOUS VALLCY. CA 95066 



llirbo C isn't just quick, it's 
super-fiast 

We're calking compilation 
speeds of better than 13,000* lines 
a minute — which makes everyone 
else's pace look slower than 
molasses in January. 

Super-speed from Borland is no 
surprise because we invented fast 
compilers ■with our first success, 
Turbo Pascal." You've made Hitbo 
Pascal a worldwide standard, and 
we've kept the action moving with 
Hirbo Prolog* and Turbo Basic' 

Turbo C is a complete, interac- 
tive programming environment 
including a F/JECMicroCalc" 
spreadsheet with source code, 
and like Turbo Pascal and Turbo 
Prolog, it comes with an interac- 
tive editor that will show you syn- 
tax errors right in your source 
code. Developing, debugging and 
running Turbo C's programs is 
amazingly easy and incredibly fast. 

Get your copy of Itarbo C today 

You need Tbrbo C. Go for the 
speed and technical superiority. 

And if you've got friends who 
will pay $450.00 for a program 
that's nowhere near as good as our 
$99.95 Turbo C— they're probably 
in the market for the Brooklyn 
Bridge! (We know 're not!) 




-to Ol an leu l>S/2 Mom 60 ittrq bto C Mnwi 1.0 m • 

Linket vfirsiofi 1 0 



L- leu PC XT, «, PS- 2 «) iw am- 
Mlibin PC'OOS IHS-DOSI 20 01 laer 384K 



Vt« C. Turtw Pfolq). VtH BasJC and Ulw Pascal ara raglslarad Indl- 
marks and M»oC«c and Tifbo LinliH aie mdenvks ol Borland nana- 
lionai Other brand and produd nams are mdamarts or royslared ndo- 
marks ot tneir respectve notdars 

Cooynglir 1967 Borland Irfernaboniri Bl- 1 1' 



For the dealer nearest yai or to order by phone call 

(800) 255-8008 

in CA (800) 742-1133, in Canada (800) 237-1136 



Cl 



Vohim* 9, Imm 38 IDG Publkotient 



SIPnMBER 21, 1987 



INFO 



WORLD 



THE 
PC 

NEWS 
WEEKLY 




HEWS 

HP replaces its Vectra PCs with 
five new machines 5 

Paperback Software releases an 
enhanced version of its VP-Planner 
spreadsheet 5 

InfoW'orld takes a first look at 
Borland's Quattro spreadsheet, 
which challenges 1-2-3 5 

Adobe threatens legal action 
against anyone who infringes on its 
trademarked name "Pastscript" 6 

Owners and potential buyers of 
386s should verify that the system 
is certified for 32-bit software 6 

Lotus upgrades Graphwriter. add- 
ing a Lotuslike interface and new 
importing capabilities 8 

IBM is cutting the costs of and 
expanding its maintenance services 8 

Novell and a third-party vendor are 
developing software for integrating 
Macs into Novell networks 8 

Fifth Generation will unveil a hard 
disk backup program with high 
compression and a speed boost 8 

Advanced Micro Devices 
introduces a chip set implementing 
the suf)erfasl FDDI LAN standard. 8 

Phoenix Technologies announces 
BIOS software that supports 
several PS/2 features H7 

Datran introduces a product that 
doubles the storage capacity of 
hard disks .' LIZ 

NETWORKING 

A federal judge eases regulations on 
information service providers LI 

SOFTWARE 

The benefits accrued from invest- 
ing in AI systems include increased 
productivity and reduced training.. 19 

HARDWARE 

Manufacturers warn portable users 

to be careful draining batteries 25 



MACIHTOSH HEWS 

A high-level language supports the 
Mac IPs color graphics capabilities 37 

IHDUSTRY 

Info H orld interviews Tandy's pres- 
ident and CEO about "the PC 
market and Tandy's strategy 41 

Softsel Hot List 42 

MAHAGEMEHT 

Personal Training Services offers 
training modules for More and 
MS-Works 4Z 

PRODUCT COMPARISOH 

The presentation graphics market 
is exploding with choices. Here we 
examine six business-oriented 
graphics packages and list others.... 55 

REVIEWS 

SOFTWARE 

Q&A Write 63 

VP Expert 67 

XVZ Model Z4 

HARDWME 

Radius Accelerator SE ZS 

IBM PC Convertible 3 83 

Review Responses 84 

COLUMHS 

Remote Input; Bruce Miller 13 

Tech Street: John Gantz 43 

Tech Talk: Steve Gibson 46 

A User's View: Jerry Poumelle 45 

A Capital View: Jerry Schneider .... 5D 

To the Editor SJ 

First Look/Bookshelf: Michael J. 
Miller 52 

On the Horizon: William F. 
Zachmann 88 

Notes From the Field: Robert X, 
Cringely 1 18 



AT DEADLINE Continued From Page I 



Autodesk Ships New Version of Autocod 

Autodesk Inc. of Sausalito. California, began shipping last week an 
upKlate of its Autocad software that includes an enhanced user 
interface and increased file portability in network environments. 

The new interface features pull-down menus, icon menus, and 
dialogue boxes, and users can program the menus to customize their 
working environment, the company said. In addition, files created 
by AutoCad can now be accessed by supported computers in a 
network running DOS, Apollo's AEGIS, DEC's VMS, or Sun 
Microsystem's Unix. 

Other new features include improved curve generation using B- 
splines, 20 text fonts, several enhancements to Auto-Lisp, and a 
drawing slide utility that arranges Autocad drawing slides in 
libraries as an aid to creating icon menus. The program is $2,850, 

— fyic Lacli 

Paradise Introduces Video Display Cards 

Paradise Systems Inc. of Brisbane, California, unveiled last week 
two video display cards based on its PVGA I video controller chip 
that will provide VGA, CGA, MDA, and Hercules monochrome 
graphics modes for IBM PC XTs, ATs, and compatibles. Scheduled 
to ship in November, the cards also provide BIOS compatibility 
with MCGA and EGA for the AT bus. 

The Paradise VGA Plus Card, which will retail for $399, is a 
replacement board designed for users wanting to add VGA 
capabilities to their existing systems, or speed and Hercules graphics 
to their PS/2 Models 25 or 30. 

The $599 Paradise VGA Professional Card provides enhanced 
graphics capabilities for users of standard text and advanced 
graphics applications. The card displays up to l,024-by-768 
resolution in monochrome and 256 colors in VGA resolution. 

— Rciuv Mailwws 

COS Software Tests Transport Protocols 

Software that tests transport protocols in the open systems 
interconnection (OSI) model, intended to allow computers with 
proprietary hardware and software to communicate more easily, 
has been released for the first time by the Corporation for Open 
Systems (COS) of McLean, Virginia. 

More than 300 test cases are included to aid vendors developing 
transport protocols, which may be given a COS license of 
conformance as soon as next summer. By the end of 1987. COS will 
also release test products for other OSI components or options, 
including the IEEE 802.4 Token Bus, internet protocols, file transfer 
and access management (FTAM), and message-handling svstems 
(MHS) protocols. 

One COS member, 3Com Corp.. is beginning to move from its 
own protocols to OSI protocols. "The timing of these announce- 
ments is good, relative to our developments," said Robert M. 
Metcalfe, 3Com chairman. 

— Scoll Mace 

Javelin Appoints New Underwriter for IPO 

Javelin Software Corp. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced it 
has appointed a new underwriter to manage the initial public 
offering of 1.5 million shares of its stock priced at $5 per share. 

Originally, the company had planned to generate about $5,7 
million by offering 8 1 5,000 shares of stock at between $6 and $8 
each, according to a preliminary prospectus dated July 1. The 
revised offering is expected to generate $7.5 million. Javelin said. 

The new underwriter. North American Investment Corp. of East 
Hartford, Connecticut, replaces the underwriter James J. Duane & 
Co. Inc. of New York. The offering is being registered by the 
Securities and Exchange Commission and could become available 
in mid- to late-October, according to Ronald Jordan, senior vice 
president of investment banking for North American Investment. 

— Kdu ard Warner 



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January, by InfoWorld Publications Inc., 1 060 Marsh Rood, Suite C-200, MenIo Pork, CA 94025. o subsidiary 
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trodemark of Apple Computer Inc. 



Nowthebestis 
twice as gpod 



How could anything be twice 
as good as the Norton Utilities™? 

Good questioa 

After all, the Norton Utili- 
ties is far and away the best- 
selling program of its kind in 
the world 

Its remarkable UnErase™ 
feature has rescued the data— 
and the derrieres— of thousands 
of grateful PC users. 

While its passel of popular 
disk management programs is 
about the most useful thing to 
happen to PCs since MS/DOS. 

So what could possibly 
be better than the Norton 
Utilities? 

Better than ever. 
Well, for starters there's the 
Norton Utilities Version 4.0. 

It works aU the same time- 
saving and data-saving wonders 
of our earlier versions— many of 
them three to five times faster 
than before. 

It also performs several 
entirely new functions that are 
worth the price of the program 
all by themselves. 

Like the unique File Info 
which lets you attach descrip- 
tions of up to 65 characters to 
your files. 

(That is, if you can think of 
one that long.) 

The new Norton Integrator 
lets you control every single 
Utility from a single program, 
and gives you on-line help 
for each function. 

While the new user 




fir Ihc complnr IBM PC family 



- t^l '^Pute without it" 
~NewYorkfmes.m -Highly 



Comi 
voted 

—PC WoridH "A d/«i5,,« 

' you'll bless this disk" 
-Peter McWilliams/ 

The Phonal Computer Book. 



:er. 






^NORTON 

Worn 



package, ■ Loaded ""^T™™ 

enhancements. ■ InS«f nVf^lTf* '^^"'"'^a' 

of the remarkable UnEmL^S^^ ^-^'on 

■ A must for ev«yoTO who '^'^'^ '^^'u'^- 
from their pQ^^'y""^ who demands the most 



interface makes the Utilities . 
so quick and easy to run if s 
ridiculous. 

Better yet 
All of which brings us to j 
the new Advanced Edition 
of the Utilities. 

Because the Advanced 
I Edition contains all of the ■ 
features, functions and 
■ enhancements of Version 4.0. 

Along with a wish list of 
technical features and func- 
tions sufficient to satisfy the 
yearnings of all those custom- 
ers who've been poUtely writing 
and calling to request them 

Like Speed Disk, for tighten- 
ing up disk space and optimizing j 
access. j 
And Format Recover, for : 
unformatting your acciden- 
tally reformatted hard disk. 

If you're so inclined, you 
can explore absolute disk 
sectors, edit file directories, \ 
even attack the FAT table. 

. And, for the first time, get 
the upper hand on your hard 
disk's partition table. 

Which of the new Norton 
Utilities is best for you is up 
to you, of course. < 
But one thing's for sure. 
Either way, youH get the 
best of Peter Nortoa 



COMPUTING 



mmiih 

Designed for the IBM" PC, PC-ATand DOS compatibles. Available at most software dealers, or direct from Peter Norton Computing, Inc, 2210 Wilshire Blvd. #186, 
Santa Monica, CA 90403. To order, call 213-453-2361 (VISA and MasterCard virelcome). MCI Mail: PNCL Fax 213-453-6398. ©1987 Peter Norton Computing. 

Copyrighted material 



w^News 



5 



SEPTEMBER 31, 1987 



HP to Replace 
Current Line 
OfVectraPCs 

By Eric Lach 

In a move that greatly expands 
its product line. Hewlett- 
Packard Co. this week will 
replace its current Vectra PC" 
microcomputers with five new 
machines, including two models 
based on the Intel 80386 chip. 

"These announcements give 
them a full set of fighting 
machines." said Norm DeWiit. 
director of Dalaquest's [personal 
computer industry- service. 
While the new products should 
help stop the erosion of Hew lett- 
Packard's user base to product 
lines such as IBM's PS/2, it's 
unclear whether the new 
Vectras can find the space on 
dealers' shelves to win new 
customers. 

HP will unveil the Vectra 
RS/16. a 16-MHz 80386-based 
floor-standing machine: the 
Vectra RS/20. a 20-MHz ver- 
sion of the RS/16; the Vectra ES 
PC. an 8-MHz 80286-based 
desktop machine that is an 
enhanced version of the current 
Vectra PC: the Vectra ES/12. a 
12-MHz version of the Vectra 
ES PC; and the Vectra CS PC. 
the line's entrv-level machine 
based on the NEC V30, an Intel 
8086-compatible processor. 

All models, except for the 
RS/16 and RS/20 machines, 
will be available in October or 
November, said Jim Carlson, 
marketing manager for HP's 



The New HP Vectras 


IMM Fwliim knOMt Prk* 


CS Modsli 


Modal 10 


640K floppy disk drive 


Nov.l 


»l,1»5 


Model 20 


640K floppy disk drive. 20MB hord disk 


Nov.l 


$1,895 


UModoU 


Modol 1 0 


1 .2MB floppy disk drive 


Ocl. 1 


$2,595 


Modol20 


1 .2MB floppy disk drive, 20MB hord disk 


Oct. 1 


$2,795 


ES/IlModeli 


Modal 1 0 


1 .2MB floppy disk drive 


Ocl. 1 


$2,995 


Model 30 


1 .2MB floppy disk drive, 30MB hard disk 


Oct. 1 


$3,195 


Modal 40 


1 .2MB floppy disk drive, 40MB hard disk 


Oct. 1 


$4,195 


RS/16 ModaU 


Modal 40 


1 MB RAM, 1.2MB floppy disk drive. 
40MB hard disk 


01 S8 


$6,495 


RS/10 Model! 


Modal 40 


1 MB RAM, 1 .2MB floppy disk drive, 
40MB hard disk 


Ol 88 


$7,495 


Model 100 


2MB RAM, 1 .2MB floppy disk drive, 
103MB hord disk 


Ol 88 


$8,995 


Modal 150 


2MB RAM, 1 .2M8 floppy disk drive, 
I5SMB hard disk 


Ol 8« 


»9,9»S 


Model 300 


2MB RAM, 1 .2MB floppy disk drive, 
310MB hard disk 


Ql 88 


$11,995 


Vactra PubUth 


•rK 






Vectra ES 20MB hard disk drive, monochrome display 


Oct. 1 


$4,389 


Vectra ES/12 


20MB hard disk drive, EGA 


Ocl. 1 


$5,479 


Vectra ES/12 


40MB hard disk drive, EGA 


Ocl. 1 


$6,479 



VP-Planner Plus Adds 
New "Look and Feel" 



personal computer business 
unit. The 386 machines are 
scheduled for delivery in the 
first quarter of 1988. 

HP also will introduce hard- 
ware and software accessories 
for the new systems, including 
expanded memory boards. 3'/:- 
inch internal floppy disk drives, 
disk drive controllers, and high- 
capacity hard disk drives. 

To allow the new machines 
to work with HP's higher-end 
systems, each model comes with 
terminal emulation software as 
standard, Carlson said. 

In addition, disk-cache soft- 



ware is included with each 
system for enhanced perfor- 
mance, Carlson added. 

Besides the basic models. HP 
also will offer both models of the 
Vectra ES PC in Vectra Publish- 
er PC packages for desktop 
publishing. The Vectra ES/12 
and CS PCs will be available in 
Vectra Starlan PC packages for 
use as nodes with an HP 3000 
minicomputer or in local area 
networks. 

Inquiries Manager, Hewlett- 
Packard Co., 1820 Embarcade- 
ro Road. Palo Alto. CA 94303; 
(800) 367-4772. 



By Edward Warner 

Changing its "look and feel." 
the latest version of Paperback 
Software International Ltd.'s 
VP-Planner spreadsheet, to be 
unveiled Tuesday, features pull- 
down menus and other func- 
tions not found in spreadsheet 
best-seller Lotus 1-2-3. 

Company spokeswoman Ja- 
net Walden declined to discuss 
whether the changes were made 
in response to Lotus' pending 
lawsuit that claims VP-Planner 
infringed the copyright on 1-2- 
3's "look and feel," or user 
interface and command struc- 
ture. Company president Adam 
Osborne acknowledged. "We 
obviously considered it" in up- 
dating the package. 

Other VP-Planner Plus fea- 
tures are a text editor for word 
processing within a spreadsheet 
and new report generation func- 
tions that let users import text or 
graphs into a spreadsheet, Wal- 
den said. Also new are the 
capability to automatically save 
a file at user-set intervals and a 
toolbox to draw boxes and lines. 
Setup and maintenance of the 
product's multidimensional 
database are now easier, she 
added. 

Also, on the heels of Lotus' 
announcement that it will drop 
copy protection on the next 
release of 1-2-3 (see story, page 
I), Paperback Software will re- 
move copy protection from its 
entire line but boost all prices 



approximately 25 percent. 

Walden noted that users of 
the enhanced version of VP- 
Planner may adopt the original 
program's interface if they 
choose. 

"Some of the features [of VP- 
Planner Plus] allow you to 
manipulate the appearance of 
the screen." Walden said. 

VP-Planner Plus does not 
replace the original VP-Planner, 
but offers full compaliblity with 
1-2-3. Release 2. while VP- 
Planner will still be sold as a 
compatible alternative to 1-2-3. 
Release lA. Osborne said. VP- 
Planner will be updated to 
Release 1.37, VP-Info to 
Release 1.4. and VP-Exf)ert to 
Release 1 .2 this week. 

VP-Planner Plus will cost 
$179.95. while VP-Planner and 
the rest of the VP scries — VP- 
Info, VP-Expert, and VP- 
Graphics — will increa.se from 
$99.95 to $124.95. Current VP- 
Planner users may upgrade for 
$50. 

Walden said the company 
did not drop copy protection 
because of Lotus, but because 
the company's attorneys 
decided "shrink-wrap licensing" 
provides adequate copyright 
protection. 

Paperback Software Ltd,, 
2830 Ninth St., Berkelev. CA 
947 10; (4 15) 644-2 1 16. 
— Pe^gy Vi all also conlribtiled 
10 litis story. 



Quattro Spreadsheet Goes After 1-2-3 Market With Speed and Ease of Use 



By Michael J. Miller 

With Quattro, Borland Interna- 
tional becomes the latest in a 
recent series of vendors chal- 
lenging Lotus Development's 
1-2-3 dominance 
in the spread- 
sheet market. 
Borland's ap- 
proach has been 
to hit 1-2-3 on 
Lotus' own turf: 
speed and ease of use. 

Like 1-2-3, the Quattro 
worksheet is 256 columns by 
8.192 rows; it can read an4 write 
1-2-3 worksheets, graphs, and 
macros. Its most unusual 
feature is a replaceable user 




One ol Qualiro s pop-up menus lists commands in 
Lotus I ■2-3 order — or you can customize it. 



interface, initially coming with 
one of its own and one mimick- 
ing 1-2-3. You can also custom- 
ize the interface to include your 
choices for wording, com- 
mands, macros, and add-ins. 

In either interface, the menu 
pops up when you type the slash 
key, and the program displays 
an explanation line at the top of 
the screen. In the 1-2-3 user 
interface the commands are 
listed in the same order as in 
1-2-3, with Quattro's unique 
features specially indicated. 
Borland believes the difference 
in look, combined with the 
user's choice of wording, lets it 
avoid the "look 
and feel" issue. 

Perhaps the 
most visible 
functional im- 
provement is in 
the graphics, 
where Quattro 
allows you 
much greater 
control over the 
way your charts 
appear. In addi- 
tion to the stan- 
dard charts. 




Quattro adds area, horizontal, 
and 3-D bar charts. 

Quattro lets you mix two 
different graph types on the 
same graph. It lets you change 
the patterns, markers, and col- 
ors used in the graph itself and 
gives you on-screen control over 
the size and fonts used for titles 
on the graphs. Finally, you can 
print graphs from within the 
spreadsheet, rather than requir- 
ing a separate graph printing 
utility, though it also lets you 
create and use Lotus PIC files. 
Quattro is also exceptionally fast 
at displaying graphics. 

Quattro includes macro re- 
cording to capture commands 
and keystrokes to a set of cells in 
the worksheet. Up to 27 of those 
macros can be accessed with 
Alt-key sequences, with others 
called from a Macro menu. 

Quattro is one of the most 
customizable products I've seen. 
It automatically senses the type 
of video adapter used and lets 
you define the colors and pat- 
terns you want for your spread- 
sheet. You can even set up 
colors that change baivcd on the 
contents of the cell, such as 



green for numbers over 100 and 
red for negative numbers, so the 
"red ink" really is. 

Unlike 1-2-3. Quattro does 
not require a separate installa- 
tion program. You can install 
and change printers, change the 
monitor's resolution, and 
change the format for dates and 
numbers from within the pro- 
gram. The spreadsheet includes 
a search-and-replace capability. 
And the add-in manager was 
designed to make it easier to 
create add-ons. 

One crucial feature we can- 
not accurately judge in pre- 
release is speed. Borland claims 
a feature called 
"minimal rcc.tl- 
culation." in 
which Quattro 
only recal- 
culates those 
cells affected by 
a change, will 
make the pro- 
gram faster in 
eveodav use. 

All told. 
Quattro has fea- 
tures that 1-2-3 
users will want 



— better graphics, easier mac- 
ros, no copy protection — plus 
compatibihty with the files and 
keystrokes they already use. 

It still isn't everything you 
could want in a spreadsheet. It 
lacks some of the advanced 
features of Microsoft Excel, 
such as easy linking of spread- 
sheets, opening multiple graphs 
and multiple spreadsheets si- 
multaneously, and mouse sup- 
port. At $199.95, however, 
Quattro is much less expensive 
than 1-2-3 and probably the PC 
version of Excel as well. At that 
price, many 1-2-3 users may see 
Quattro as a logical next step. 



Manufacturing Projections 

Base Case 




Quattro gives you lar greater control over 
graphics, including on-screen control over the size 
and lonts used lor titles on the graphs. 



Copy I. .J i.c^ . tuciial 



Some 386 Systems Won't Run 
32-Bit Software, Intel Says 



ByTomMoran 

Owners and prospective buyers of 386 
machines should check carefully under 
the hood if they want to run 32-bit 
software. 

Some systems integrators aren't telling 
users that their computers contain 386 
chips that failed Intel's 32-bit software 
tests, said Intel and other sources. 

Richard UUman, a consultant in New 
York, had advised a customer to save 
$40,000 by using Unix System V/386 
and a 386 machine instead of a minicom- 
puter. Then another client reported that 



the operating system was repeatedly 
crashing on a .386-based system. An 
embarrassed Ullman felt compelled to 
call his first client back and reverse his 
recommendation. "I said, 'Well, don't go 
with the 386 because I don't know if it 
will work." " 

It turned out that the crashed system's 
microprocessor was labeled "For 16-bit 
software only." The computer's owner 
had not tieen informed of its limitations 
by the vendor, whom he declined to 
name publicly. But the problem is not 



limited to one vendor, according to an 
Intel representative who confirmed that 
the crashes were due to the widely 
reported 32-bit multiply problem on 
early versions of the chip. "Some people 
we are selling the boards to are selling 
them to others and not informing their 
customers," he said. "We are trying to 
sell through legitimate people who are 
supporting their customers correctly. 
Appropriate action is being taken and 
will continue to be taken when resellers 
fail to do so." 

Buyers of 386 machines should check 
the microprocessor to see if it has been 
certified for 32-bit software. A double 
Sigma on the chip indicates that it has 
been tested and is fully 32-bit. according 
to an Intel spokeswoman. A "16-bit s/w 
only" label indicates that the chip failed 
the 32-bit test but passed the 16-bit test. 



No marking on the chip indicates thai it 
has not been tested for the 32-bit 
multiply problem. 

Present owners who find that their 
chips failed the 32-bit test should contact 
their supplier, said Intel. The company 
said it would replace those chips on a 
vendor's request in the first half of 1988. 

As of July, Intel has only been 
shipping chips that can run 32-bit 
software, the spokeswoman said. The 
only source of chips limited to 16-bit 
software is resellers who are still bringing 
back old chips to be tested, she noted. 
Those resellers can choose to get back 
their own chips that fail the 32-bit test 
and have them replaced with the 32-bit 
version later. 



Adobe Cautions 
Developers Not 
To Use Trademark 

By Eric Lach 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Adobe 
Systems Inc. warned last week it will take 
legal action against anyone who uses the 
name "Postscript" without permission to 
describe an interpreter of the Postscript 
page description language. 

"We want it to be clear in the end- 
user's mind that what they are getting is 
Postscript by Adobe's definition and with 
Adobe's technology," said Liz Bond, 
director of marketing communications 
for Adobe. 

The name Postscript is trademarked 
and applies to the language and the 
manuals that describe the language, 
according to Bond. "We will never 
license the trademarked name Postscript 
to anyone else for a software product." 
she said. 

Developers who write programs in the 
Postscript language and drivers that 
output in Postscript won't be pursued 
legally. Bond said. "We very aggressively 
evangelize for that and want people to do 
it," Bond said. "It is our intention to 
continue to olTcr them a royalty-free 
unwritten license to use that copyrighted 
material." 

However. Adobe is carefully watching 
those developers who are working on 
Postscript-compatible interpreters and 
may take action if a developer describes a 
product in a way that Adobe thinks 
infringes its trademark on the Postscript 
name. Bond said. "If we allowed them to 
do that, there would be a great deal of 
confusion in the marketplace." 

To avoid being sued, developers may 
get written permission from Adotie to use 
the trademark. Bond said, adding that 
Sun Microsystems Inc., also of Mountain 
View, has such an agreement. 

"(Adobe] may have a legitimate claim 
to some extent." said Dan Siegel. an 
attorney with the Santa Clara, California, 
firm of Skjerven. Morrill. MacPherson, 
Franklin & Friel, who specializes in 
copyright issues. 

Most trademark cases, however, hinge 
on how the trademarked term is specifi- 
cally used. Siegel said. "I can see them 
prevailing in a case where someone says 
this is a Postscript interpreter," he said. 
"But 1 think they will have a tough time 
with someone who says here is my XVZ 
interpreter, wjiich will interpret pro- 
grams written in the Postscript language 
developed by Adobe. I don't think they 
will tie able to stop the use of the 
Postscript name completely," 



02 sec. 




STANDARD EGA 

If you're using a standard EGA for CAD you 
might as well get up and pour yourself a cup of 
coffee during a really complicated redraw. 

But if you're lucky enough to have the REVO- 
LUTIONARY NEW THOMSON ADVANCED 
GRAPHICS CONTROLLER, the coffee will have 
to wait. It's 22 times faster than a standard EGA 
thanks to its state-of-the-art TI 34010 GRAPHICS 
PROCESSOR, the latest in chip technology So 
redraw is almost instantaneous. 

And the graphics are nothing short of brilliant. 
640 X 480 resolution with 64 simultaneous on- 
screen colors. Monochrome resolution is 1024 x 768 
with four levels of grey. And, as you'd expect, the 
THOMSON AGC is 100% IBM PC, XT, AT, MDA, 
CGA, EGA (optional) and Hercules compatible. 



THOMSON AGC 

It comes with easy-to-use utility software and 
high-performance drivers for Microsoft Windows, 
AutoCAD, Lotus l-2-3*and other popular software. 

And to make running them even easier, the 
THOMSON AGC has a Microsoft Mouse InPort 
built into its surface mount board. All topped off 
with the free technical assistance and warranty 
support of THOMSON, one of the International 
Fortune 100 companies. 

Look for the THOMSON AGC at quality com- 
puter desders everywhere. If your store doesn't 
have it yet, call TOLL FREE to 1-800-325 0464 
(1-800-237-9483 in California) for information or 
the name of the dealer nearest you. 

The THOMSON AGC. Finally you can have 
mainframe speed and resolution on yotir P. C. 



THOMSON OThe^sion of Personal Computers. 

THOMSON. TI 34010. LOTUS 1-2-3 »nd AutoCAD ure tr«demiirKs of THOMSON CONSUMER PRODUCTS CORPORATION. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC.. 
AutoCAD and IXTTVS DF.VE1X>PMENT CORPORATION respectively. IBM PC/XT/ AT. MICROSOFT and INPORT are Reipatered IVndcmitrkK of 
lUM CORPORATION and MICROSOFT CORPORATION respectively. 

'Lotus software drivers may not be svailable at time of initial shipment, but will be provided at no charge at a later date. 



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RapidFile's visual report writer makes it 
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And with RapidFile, everything is on one 



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And RapidFile is the only product 
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IBM Broadens Courier Repair Service 



lotus' Craphwriter U can import 1-2-3 files and other data into a 
variety of formats. It is especially well-suited for financial analysis. 

Grophwriter Update 
Adds Lotuslike Interface 



By Edward Warner 

As the first enhancement since 
acquiring the product more 
than a year ago. Lotus last week 
upgraded Craphwriter by add- 
ing a Lotuslike interface and the 
capability to import data in a 
range of formats, including 1-2- 
3 files. 

Lotus said the enhancement 
was significant enough to 
warrant a new name — Graph- 
writer II — and a repositioning 
of the product for use by finan- 
cial analysts and others who 
generate charts in quantity. The 
$495 product, which ships in 
October, "is basically a whole 
new product." said Tim Daven- 
port, director of the Lotus 
graphics products group. 

Davenport said Craphwriter 
II is designed for volume chart 
production and can update and 
generate as many as 100 charts 
at one command. The old 
version, acquired in the June 
1986 purchase of Craphic Com- 
munications Inc.. only accepted 
direct import of DIFand SYLK 
files, but Craphwriter II accepts 
Lotus WKS. WRK. WRl. and 
WK 1 files, as well as ASCII files 
and those created by Lotus" 
Freelance Plus or Ashton-Tate's 
Dbase line, according to Lotus. 

The update also increased 
from nine to 24 the number of 
available chart types and allows 
users to place multiple charts on 
a page, add three-dimensional 
effects and change colors, and 
fill patterns and text sizes, the 
company said. Borrowing a 
concept from word processing. 
Craphwriter II supports "style 
sheets." in which the style of a 
chart can be predetermined for 
repeated generation using new 
data. Lotus said. 

Craphwriter II is especially 
useful for batch chart 
production, said Miki 
Zlaticanin. information center 
consultant at Chicago-based 
PMC Corp.. who used a beta 
version for a month-and-a-half 
.She said she once produced 25 
Craphwriter II charts on a 
Hewlett-Packard Co. plotter in 
about two hours, much less time 



than the earlier version would 
have required, she said. 

Craphwriter II requires a PC 
XT or AT with 512K of RAM 
and a graphics adapter. 
Craphwriter will eventually be 
discontinued, and users who 
bought it after July 15 will 
receive the upgrade free. Those 
who bought before that date 
may upgrade for $75. 

Lotus Development Corp., 
55 Cambridge Parkway, Cam- 
bridge. MA 02142: (617) 225- 
1841. 



By Alice LaPlante 

IBM just made its PC and PS/2 
maintenance services a little 
cheaper and a little more con- 
venient. 

On-site workstation mainte- 
nance services — called Cus- 
tomer On-Site Exchange and 
Customer On-Site Repair con- 
tracts by IBM — have been so 
popular that IBM is expanding 
the programs as well as cutting 
the costs to corporate users of 
those services. 

"Under our on-site contracts, 
an IBM courier goes to the 
customer site, picks up the 
faulty equipment, takes it away, 
and — depending on whether a 
customer has an exchange or 
repair contract — brings back 
either a new or a repaired 
element." said Dale Bennett, an 
IBM spokeswoman. 

Previously, IBM also offered 
maintenance contracts where 
the customers themselves 
brought the faulty equipment to 
an IBM Service/Exchange cen- 
ter. 

However, because IBM ex- 
pects the new courier service to 
be so popular, it is closing its 
120 Service/Exchange Centers 
— scattered nationwide — on 
October 1. 

Customers will still be able to 
take malfunctioning worksta- 
tion equipment to IBM author- 
ized dealers or other designated 
IBM locations, said Bennett. 

Bennett said that the courier 



pick-up and delivery service will 
cost the same price or less than 
what customers are paying now 
for carry-in serv ice. 

In addition, the new courier 
service is available at a lower 
price than IBM's former courier 
service offering. 

IBM has also set a four-hour 
response goal for on-site repair 
calls. 



IBM's workstation mainte- 
nance agreements apply to 163 
"elements" — systems, periph- 
erals, or components — involv- 
ing PCs or PS/2s. 

The new courier service is 
available only when the custom- 
er signs a maintenance agree- 
ment — not when customers 
pay for each service call, said 
Bennett. 



AMD Introduces Chip Set for Use 
In 1 00-MBPS Fiber-Optic LANs 

By Mark Stephens 



A technology advance that soon 
may result in 100-Mbps fiber- 
optic local area networks comes 
this week from Advanced Micro 
Devices Inc. (AMD) with its 
introduction of the first chip set 
implementing the superfast Fi- 
ber Distributed Data Interface 
(FDDI) LAN standard. 

The FDDI standard, which 
has yet to be approved by the 
American National Standards 
Institute (ANSI) or the Interna- 
tional Standards Organization 
(ISO), defines a network com- 
posed of two rings of optical 
fiber up to 100 kilometers long, 
interconnecting up to 500 
nodes. The rings consist of a 
series of point-to-point connec- 



Novell Teams With Developer 
To Integrate Macs on Its Nets 



By Laurie Flynn 

PROVO. UT — Novell Inc. is 
working with a third-party de- 
veloper to ready software for 
integrating Macintoshes into 
Novell networks, taking the first 
step in the company's strategy to 
support multiple operating 
platforms. 

Although Novell officials 
would not identify the develop- 
er, a number of sources familiar 
with the project said that Novell 
is working on the software with 
Dayna Communications, the 
Salt Lake City-based maker of 
the Mac Charlie coprocessor 
and the more recent Dayna File. 
The new network program will 
be available in March 1988, the 
sources said. 

Support for Macintoshes on a 
Novell network will be included 
with Netware 2.2, which will be 
available at that time, sources 
said. Dayna will also offer its 
own version of the file server 
software for use on purely Mac- 
intosh networks. That program, 
which will require a PC AT 
server, will be positioned as an 
alternative to such programs as 
Appleshare and Centram's 
Tops, sources said. 

Novell spokeswoman Cheryl 
Snapp declined to provide 



details of the software, stating 
only that Novell has announced 
it will provide Macintosh sup- 
port within its Open Protocol 
Technology program. "Netware 
for the Macintosh will be one of 
those specific gateways, just as 
TCP/IP and OS/2 will be. There 
are no announcements on how 
we're actually doing it." 

However, according to the 



sources, the software will work 
with a Novell server, translating 
server calls into Apple File 
Protocol (AFP) calls. "The No- 
vell server looks like an AFP 
server to the Mac and a PC 
server to the PC." said one 
source familiar with the project. 

The Netware file server will 
support Appletalk through the 
use of an add-in board designed 
by Tangent Technologies, of 
Norcross. Georgia, and labeled 
and sold by Dayna. Tangent 
currently offers such a board, 
called the PC Mac Bridge Plus, 
which lets IBM PCs participate 
in Appletalk networks. 



tions that repeat data as they go 
around the ring. The primary 
ring is used for data transmis- 
sion, with the secondary ring 
used mainly for backup in the 
event of a link or station failure, 
though gutsy LAN designers 
could use the second ring to 
increase data transmission to 
200 Mbps. 

Previously, AMD said, the 
implementation of an FDDI 
network adapter has taken mul- 
tiple boards and cost in excess of 
$50,000 per station. AMD's 
Supemet five-chip set is avail- 
able now in samples and will be 
in full production in January at 
a list price of $625 per set, which 
suggests adapter card products 
as soon as the second quarter in 
the $5,000 price range or below. 

"We mainly see FDDI being 
implemented as a fiber-optic 
backbone with Ethernets or to- 
ken rings connected to it." said 
Tom Slykhouse. AMD's strate- 
gic marketing manager for high- 
speed LANs. "That much 
bandwidth, of course, is very 
attractive for engineering work- 
stations or distributed process- 
ing, and I am sure we will see 
applications at that level as soon 
as the price of the technology 
begins to drop. Eventually. I am 
sure FDDI will make it all the 
way down to PCs." 

Advanced Micro Devices. 
901 Thompson Place. Sunny- 
vale. CA 94088: (408) 7.12-2406. 



Tope Backup to Offer High Compression, Speed 

By Mark Brownstein 



A new hard disk and tape 
backup system with high com- 
pression and a speed boost is in 
the final stages of development 
by Fifth Ceneration Systems 
Inc.. sources close to the compa- 
ny said. 

The product is expected to be 
announced in October as Fast- 
back Plus. The third-generation 
hard disk backup program will 
contain "the best features of all 
backup programs." according to 
sources outside the company 
who have seen the product. 

Fastback Plus will be com- 



pletely new. rather than an 
upgrade of the current program. 
A new compression algorithm 
will significantly reduce the 
number of floppy disks required 
to back up a hard drive. 

The program will come with 
three different user interfaces: 
beginner, intermediate, and ad- 
vanced. The advanced interface 
will allow backup to all floppy 
media, including .160K and 1.2- 
megabyte disks, and 720K and 
1 .44-megabyte 3'/;-inch media, 
and will also allow backup to 
streaming tape devices. 



Set for introduction on Oct- 
ober 1. the product will be 
released in time for fall 
Comdex. Company officials de- 
clined to discuss the product, 
although they confirmed that 
Fifth Ceneration officials re- 
leased details about the product 
to a group of dealers at a New 
York conference. No details of 
pricing on the new version were 
available. 

Fifth Ceneration Svstems. 
2691 Richter Ave.. Suite 107. 
Irvine. CA 92714: (714) 55.V 
0111,(800) 225-2775. 



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1988... or later! Meantime you 
keep developing with soon-to-be 
obsolete dBASE™ technology. 

But you don't have to wait for 
SQL on the PC. 

Oracle has it now. And you 
don't have to wait for OS/2 to run 
programs larger than 640K. The 
ORACLE® DBMS allows you to run 
OS/2-size programs under today's 
MS-DOS!" 

ORACLE is the number-one sell- 



Itear Ashton-Taterj 

20101 Hamilton Avenue I 
Torrance, CA 90502 

Since you've announced your inten- I 

tions to go to SQL, I really don't feel ' 

like developing obsolete applications | 

in dBASE. I have every confidence your I 
first attempt v/iW be full-featured and 

bug-free. Send me what you've got, I 

when you get it. I 







rrt. . 






pat ian-t . 




Momo.^ . . . 







ing DBMS on both minicomputers 
and mainframes. If you try PC 
ORACLE, we think you'll make us 
number-one on PCs, too. That's why 
we're making you this special offer. 

We've sold thousands of copies 
of PC ORACLE for $1295. But now, 
for a limited time, we will send 
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of ORACLE for only $199.* 

That's right. Only $199 for a PC 
SQL DBMS that is identical to the 
ORACLE that runs on minicom- 
puters and mainframes. $199 for 
the only PC DBMS that lets you 



Company / * 



City 



Dear IBM, 

Old Orchard Road 
Armonk, NY 10504 



1 



Attached is a blank check. I keep read- 
ing that you've already announced 
that you're going to announce SQL for 
OS/2 and the Personal System /2. 

When you do, fill in the check amount. 
Hope to hear from you sometime in 
the next couple years. 



write larger-than-640K, 
OS/2-size programs and 
run them under today's 
MS-DOS. 

ORACLE makes it easy 
to write large, high- 
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Applications that run 
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Multi-user, networked 
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tions that can be devel- 
oped on MS-DOS today, and then 
run unchanged on OS/2, mini- 
computers and mainframes. 

So stop writing dead-end dBASE 
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cramped, limited-to-less-than-640K 
applications. Call 1-800-345-DBMS 
today. Or use the rightmost 
coupon. Or mail one of the other 
coupons. And wait. 

COMPATIBILITY « PORTABILITY « COHHECTABILITY 

Call 1-800-345-DBMS today. 

nbear Oracle, ^ 



PC ORACLE • Oracle Corporation 
20 Davis Drive • Belmont, CA 94002 

I want to run OS/2 ORACLE on MS-DOS today. 
I agree to use ttiis license only for application 
development. I understand all prices include 
applicable taxes and postage. 
Send me (check only one): 

□ PC ORACLE $199 

□ ORACLE + 1MB Extended memory $599 

□ ORACLE + 2MB Extended memory $799 

I'm paying tjy □ Check □ VISA □ MC □ AMEX 



Company 



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Card Expiration Date 



aerial 




Can MateThis Statement 

At 6.4 pounds, the newTlOOO is the 
lightest portable PC in the world. 

If s a good ten pounds lighter than 
some "portables!' And you know how it feels 
to cany around ten extra pounds. 

Yet within its diminutive footprint (it's 
about a foot wide and not even that deep) 
lies all the power of a desktop PC. 

Included are 512KB of RAM and a 
built-in 720KB 3y2"floppy drive, plus MS- 
DOS* 2.11 in ROM. 

It comes with a new supertwist screen 
thaf s adjustable a full 180° and folds flat 
when you want to add a CRT 

The IBM'-compatibleTlOOO offers 
you some very intelligent options. Like a 
numeric key pad and a 1200 bps Hayes* 

In Touch with Tomorrow 

TOSHIBA 

loshiba .\menc-a Inc , Infomxitinn S\-?tems DKiston 



compatible internal modem. Or an expan- 
sion card that will improve its memory by 
another 768KB. 

All in all, it's the perfect way to go to 
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Call 1-800457-7777 for theToshiba 
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And see how it feels to pick up the most 
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Except, maybe, 
its price. 



MS-rX)S IS a registered trrifienvirk of Micinsoft 
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ti" liayes 0)rponilHia IBNi is a rvgisteivd 
tradeiniirk ol InteniatMireil 
Buaness Machines 
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WORLD Networkinp 



n 

SEPHMBCRII, I9S7 



News 



FCC Lengthens A«ess 
Charge Comment Period 

The FCC has extended the 
comment period for its pro- 
posed access charges that 
could raise on-line provider 
rates as much as $5 an hour. 
Originally, the last date for 
public comment was to have 
been September 14. In Au- 
gust the FCC extended the 
comment period until Sep- 
tember 24. and replies can 
be submitted until October 
26. 

The extension was re- 
quested by a consortium of 
23 companies and organiza- 
tions headed by Adapso, the 
computer software and ser- 
vices trade group. The group 
said it needed more time to 
prepare its responses to the 
FCC access charge propos- 
als. In the meantime, public 
comment on the matter 
(Docket No. 87-2 15) has 
been runningoverwhelming- 
ly against the proposal, with 
many letters from on-line 
ser\ ice users at major uni- 
versities protesting the finan- 
cial hardship the new access 
charges would inflict on 
them. 

Firm Lowers Price of 
Voice Messaging System 

Natural Microsystems Corp. 
has cut the retail price of the 
Watson voice messaging 
product from $495 to $ 1 99 
and has begun marketing the 
product directly to users via 
a toll-free number. 

The company is also 
cutting the price of its high- 
end VIS Combo product 
from $796 to $399. VIS 
Combo addsan application 
generator for building voice- 
mail systems and handles 
complex incoming and out- 
going voice-message 
schemes. 

Natural Microsystems, 8 
Erie Drive. Natick, MA 
01 760; (800) 533-6 120. 

Turbo Pacitoge Permits 
Multrtaslting on LANs 

Turbo Pascal programmers 
can create multitaskingand 
multiprocessing programs to 
run on LANs with Conversa- 
tional Computer Systems' 
Turbo Package 3.0. 

The $ 1 49 package in- 
cludes a toolbox, utilities, 
and a precompiler. It allows 
an applications program mer 
to control which processing 
function will reside on spe- 
cific processors, allowing for 
improved network perfor- 
mance and traffic control. 

Conversational Computer 
Systems, 5371 Verbena 
Road, San Antonio, TX 
78240; (5 12) 692-0353. 



Judge to Ease Information Services Restrictions 

Decision Allows BOCs to Provide Gateways But Not Content 



By Scott Mace 

The federal judge who presided 
over the breakup of the Bell 
System has decided to relax 
some restrictions barring the 
Regional Bell Operating Com- 
panies (BOCs) from providing 
information services. 

In a 223-page decision, U.S. 
District Judge Harold H. 
Greene from the District of 
Columbia said he is prepared to 
let BOCs provide gateways to 
information services, including 
X.25 protocol conversion, but 
BOCs would not be allowed to 
provide content for those 
services. 

Greene ordered interested 
parties to submit proposals by 
September 30. After a short 
reply period, Greene said he will 
issue an order modifying the 
present restrictions. 

Judge Greene's action disap- 
pointed Regional Bell Operating 
Companies, which, with the 
U.S. Justice Department, had 



advocated lifting all restrictions 
on BOCs providing information 
services. "Today's decision 
places the benefits of modern 
telecommunications services 
just beyond the reach of most 
telephone customers," read a 
statement from Arthur C. Lat- 
no, executive vice president of 
Pacific Tclesis Group, a San 
Francisco-based BOC. "We sin- 
cerely hope that today's ruling 
will be short-lived and that 
potentially damaging conse- 
quences to our telecommunica- 
tions infrastructure don't 
result." 

Analysts believe the BOCs 
will turn to Congress to speed up 
further deregulation of the local 
phone companies. "You can tell 
from the reactions of the BOCs 
that they're more irked about 
Greene's denials of motions on 
manufacturing and long-dis- 
tance restrictions," said Gary 
Arlen, editor of Innraciivilv 



Repoii. in Bethesda, Maryland. 

"But when the BCXTsgo up to 
Capitol Hill in the next month 
or two, information services will 
be the first item in their portfo- 
lio," Arlen said. "It may be a 
nice, flag-waving piece of rheto- 
ric, but I don't know that they're 
all going to jump into that 
business." 

Greene contended that a 
bottleneck on local access con- 
tinues, and meaningful, large- 
scale alternatives do not yet exist 
for information service pro- 
viders. 

The Information Industry 
Association (IIA), which repre- 
sents information providers 
such as Compuserve, applauded 
Greene's decision. 

"By permitting the BOCs to 
provide gateway services, the 
Judge's decision is expected to 
further the development of new 
information services," said Paul 
Zurkowski, president of the IIA. 



LAN Wares to Use Encryption, TCP/IP 



By Mark Stephens 

For those who have secrets and 
want to keep them. Bridge 
Communications Inc. is ship- 
ping what it claims to be the first 
two local area network products 
to support both data encry ption 
and the TCP/IP protocol set. 

According to Bridge, its Se- 
cure CS/50 is a communications 
server that can support up to 
two devices such as asynchro- 
nous terminals, printers, mo- 
dems, host ports, or PCs. 
ottering up to eight simulta- 
neous sessions f)er device at up 
to 19.2 kbps. The Secure NCS/ 
AT is an AT-compatible, 
Xenix-based network manage- 
ment station for centralized 
control and monitoring of the 
network, storing up to 2,048 
logical names and port-level 



configuration information for 
attached servers. For an en- 
crypted LAN to function, it 
must have a combination of the 
two products, with Secure CS/ 
50s for each pair of workstations 
or output devices and a Secure 
NCS/ AT to manage the LAN. 

Tom Russell, product man- 
ager for Bridge's Government 
Products Division, said that 
LANs built with these products, 
while not meeting Tempest spe- 
cifications, can operate either as 
encry pted or non-encrypted ser- 
vices, allowing connectivity 
with other nonsecure networks 
or computers. The products 
provide user authentifieation. 
security profiles, access controls, 
data encryption, and audit trail 
information for controlling. 



□ 




Bridge Communications' Secure CS/50 tironll and Secure NCS/ AT 
provide data security and access control lor network users and 
resources in sensitive or controlled environments. 



monitoring, and analyzing pro- 
prietary data. 

"Encryption takes place on 
two levels." said Russell. "There 
is a public key encryption 
scheme for user authentifieation 
and then DBS encry ption of the 
actual network session. This 
combination of public keys and 
DES encryption makes the sys- 
tem both faster and more 
secure. 

"These products arc not in- 
tended to meet Tempest re- 
quirements as established by the 
Department of Defense." said 
Russell. "We will be introducing 
products for that market in the 
future. Right now we are aiming 
more at financial institutions 
and other companies, and gov- 
ernment agencies who have pro- 
prietary information to pro- 
tect." 

Russell said there are three 
levels of access control: control- 
ling when and via which ports a 
user can access the network, 
defining each user's access level 
and user group partitions, and 
prescribing whether a user is 
given access to a particular 
resource. The Secure NCS/AT 
security audit trail records log-in 
and access control violations 
and key management activity. 

The list price for the Secure 
CS/50 is $2. 1 95. with the Secure 
NCS/AT priced at $ 1 7.900. For 
those who already have an A I 
kicking around, the NCS/AT 
upgrade kit is available for 
$6,250. 

Bridge Communications 
Inc., 208 1 Stierlin Road, Moun- 
tain View, CA 94043; (415) 969- 
4400, 



In the opinion, (ircenc noted 
that the United States lags be- 
hind other countries, particular- 
ly France, in providing infor- 
mation services to consumers. 

"The French information 
services scheme permits indi- 
vidual citizens to secure an 
enormous number and variety 
of information services with 
ease and at a reasonable cost." 
Greene stated. 



Compuserve 
Users Receive 
Crosstalk Forum 

By Robert Snowdon Jones 

DCA/Crosstalk Communica- 
tions Inc. said last week it has 
started a forum on Compuserve 
that provides on-line upgrades 
to its communications software 
to help encourage the develop- 
ment of scripts for Crosstalk 
Mk. 4 and provide lictter 
support. 

The forum contains data 
libraries and a message board 
for all Crosstalk (formerly Mi- 
crostuf Inc.) products. 

The company has had an 
internal bulletin board for sup- 
port, but it was difficult to 
access. "We've had a support 
[bulletin board system] at Cross- 
talk for years, but only one 
person could get into it at a 
time," said Sheldon T. Hall, 
Crosstalk's special projects 
manager and head system oper- 
ator for the forum. 

The new forum hasn't been 
announced, but it's already been 
busy , said Hall. Most of its users 
have read about it on other 
Compuserve forums, he said. 
The forum's alternate system 
operator is Maria Forrest, who 
handles technical questions. 

Hall said the modular design 
of Mk. 4 makes it extremely 
easy to supply frequent up- 
grades on-line. Several upgrades 
and utilities for Mk. 4 have been 
posted by Crosstalk, including a 
script to convert Crosstalk XVI 
command files to Mk. 4. Anoth- 
er script compiles a list of files 
on a Compuserve forum, com- 
pares them with those already 
on the computer's disk, and 
automatically downloads new 
ones or ones the user chooses. 
Fat Man. a video game that can 
be played in Mk. 4's back- 
ground, is also in the forum's 
data library. 

Compuserve subscribers can 
access the forum directly by 
typing "Go Xtalk." 

Crosstalk Communications 
Inc., 1000 Holcomb Woods 
Parkway, Roswcll. GA .30071; 
(404) 998-3998. 



12 

SimMBER 21, 1987 



Networking 



INFO 
WORLD 



Battle for 1 0-Mbps Ethernet Twisted-Pair Market Intensifies 



By Mark Stephens 

With 10-Mbps Ethernet on unshielded 
twisted-pair wire already announced by 
3Com Corp.. Digitial Equipment Corp., 
and Synoptics Communications Inc., the 
trend toward this cheaper, more flexible 
medium is certain. How these competing 
systems compare, however, is anything 
but clear. 

In the wake of 3Com and DEC's 
announcement to jointly develop their 
similar versions of Ethernet over tele- 
phone wire. Synoptics Communications 
revealed this week that one of the beta 
test sites for its previously announced 
Lattisnet unshielded twisted-pair product 
is Novell Inc., publisher of Netware, the 
most popular local area network operat- 
ing system. And Novell, it seems, likes 
Synoptics" product a lot. 

In fact, according to Novell engineer J. 
Warren Harding, when Synoptics" Ether- 
net over telephone wire was compared in 
Novell's lab with Ethernet over RG-58U 
thin Ethernet cable, it performed as well 
or better than the more expensive coaxial 
cable, with nearly identical throughput 
and no measurable data loss. 

Synoptics" Lattisnet on unshielded 
twisted-pair makes use of two pairs of 



Net/Scope Tool 
Lets PCs Analyze, 
Monitor Networks 

By Mark Stephens 

Ungermann-Bass Inc. is now shipping a 
sophisticated network monitoring and 
analysis product, called Net/Scope, that 
is claimed to greatly simplify trouble- 
shooting local area networks that use 
XNS or TCP/IP protocols over Ethernet. 
Net/One broadband, or Net/One fiber- 
optic media. 

According to UBI. Net/Scope, which 
includes both software and a special 
network interface board, allows an IBM 
PC or compatible to analyze network 
traffic and accurately forecast network 
growth. 

Packet fields can be displayed or 
recorded, network statistics gathered 
using a range of predefined counters, and 
reports prepared to illustrate network 
characteristics, capacity, and response. 

By allowing a manager to selectively 
view any network trafTic, either worksta- 
tion-to-workstation or scgment-to-scg- 
ment, UBI says that Net/Scope can 
quickly identify any source of network 
traffic problems. 

In addition to custom counters, the 
product includes preprogrammed count- 
ers to measure all packets, broadcast 
packets, multicast packets, packets from 
other networks, packets to other net- 
works, name-lookup packets, CRC er- 
rors, and alignment errors. 

Net/Scope can operate unattended for 
long periods of time, allowing network 
managers to gather longitudinal data for 
network planning purposes. 

The baseband version of Net/Scope is 
available for $7,500. with the broadband 
model priced at $8,150. including 
modem. These prices include a $5,000 
software license fee. 

Ungermann-Bass Inc.. 3900 Freedom 
Circle. Santa Clara. CA 95062: (408) 
496-0111. 



wires, while the 3Com/DEC implemen- 
tation uses only a single pair, yet there are 
other, even more substantial differences 
between the products. 

Among the 3Com/DEC beta testers is 
Stanford University where, so far, only 
the 3Com implementation has been 
installed. While there are differences 
between 3Com"s Pairtamer product and 
the twisted-pair implementation of 
DEConnect that is on its way, they are 
based on essentially the same technology 
and, according to Stanford network head 
Bill Yundt, are ver>' different from the 
product offered by Synoptics. 

■'What DEC and 3Com have done,"' 



Yundt said, "is extend the Ethernet 
environment out through the telephone 
wire, all the way to the switch plate. 
Synoptics, on the other hand, is extend- 
ing a transceiver connection all the way 
from the wiring closet to the desktop. 
The major difference here, from our 
point of view, is that the Synoptics prod- 
uct only allows you to connect a single 
device. 3Com's product, by extending 
the Ethernet environment, allows you to 
connect thin Ethernet cable to the 
twisted-pair and thereby attach a number 
of workstations through a single outlet."" 
But even Stanford is not completely 
swayed by the low cost and flexibility of 



Ethernet on telephone wire. "In many 
ways," said Yundt. "it makes our job 
here even harder. It offers tremendous 
flexibility and will allow us access to 
virtually every one of the 35.(KX) rooms 
on the Stanford campus, but it makes 
network management more complex. 
Now we have another distance parameter 
to worry about in our planning, and the 
system is more complex with these extra 
little boxes on the wall and in the phone 
closets. Those are all parts that can break. 
We'll use it where it makes sense, and 
gladly, but every time we remodel a 
building or build a new one, we will still 
install thin Ethernet cable.'" 




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Cl, 



INFO 13 



WORLD 




SEPHMBERSI, I9S7 


Remot:c 

by Bruce iviiiier 


3 Input: 





If Adopted, FCC Amendments Would Thwart Communications Development 



Looming on the hori/on is the specter of 
the Federal Communications Commis- 
sion's "Amendments of Part 69 of the 
Commission's Rules Relating to En- 
hanced Service Providers." 

If the amendments are adopted as 
proposed, local telephone companies will 
be allowed to charge enhanced service 
providers by the minute. The added costs 
will be passed on to the users of enhanced 
services. 

While the FCC claims these amend- 
ments are part of a long-range policy 



"toward an economically rational pricing 
scheme." their rationale to drop the 
exemption becomes specious when users 
of enhanced services are included in the 
picture. 

Since the exemptions were first 
allowed in 198.^. tremendous advantages 
have accrued to the population at large 
and the industry in particular. The boom 
in computer telecommunications by 
home users and small businesses is one 
significant change that is blazing a trail 
for data communications services. 



Low-cost communications services, 
such as the innovative and popular PC 
Pursuit, begun in 1985 by GTE Telenet, 
are helping make new ideas in telecom- 
munications applications possible. At 
night and during weekends. PC Pursuit 
allows users in some 500 cities to make 
the long-distance link to computer 
message systems in 25 major metropoli- 
tan areas for a flat $25 a month. 

PC Pursuit and services like it have 
created an unprecedented platform for 
creative information exchange. Sudden- 



ly, regional computer message systems 
became centers for the national exchange 
of ideas and information, leaping the 
geographical boundaries imposed by 
economic constraints. Specialized sys- 
tems on geneology and health have 
sprung up. and shareware producers 
make their programs easily available on 
computer bulletin board systems. Even 
the traditional software companies are 
setting up their own systems as a way to 
provide technical support. 

But according to a recent statement by 
Telenet, if the proposal is adopted. "PC 
Pursuit's current "flat-rale/unlimited us- 
age' service would have to be repriced on 
a per-usage basis, incorporating the $7 to 
$9 [X'r-hour access charge. It is doubtful 
that the service could survive at this 
inflated rale." The demise of PC Pursuit 
would be followed by the demise of 
innovative work on and for microcom- 
puters and telecommunications. 

Individuals, small businesses, non- 
profit organizations, and libraries are 
likely to be hit hardest and most directly 
by the proposal's sanctions. Many librar- 
ies around the country now olTer their 
patrons electronic database searches. 
With the added costs, such searches in 
rural and small libraries are likely to 
cease because funds are so tight. Even 
patrons who never request an on-line 
search will suffer. Interlibrary loan and 
book cataloging are increasingly depen- 
dent upon interstate telecommunica- 
tions. 

One of the FCC's staled goals is the 
"elimination of unreasonable discrimi- 
nation and undue preferences among 
rates for interstate services." Yet dis- 
criminations should be made, especially 
when you consider that phone compa- 
nies provide all sorts of special arrange- 
ments for toll carriers, including 
switching machines costing millions of 
dollars and special trunking exclusively 
for toll carriers. Packet-switched net- 
works such as Telenet, however, receive 
no special treatment. They connect into 
the local network in the same manner 
you and I do — through ordinary lines. 

Some argue that packet-switched net- 
works make heavier use of those ordinary 
lines. Heavier use is already priced into 
business rates, however, about five times 
residential rates. And the largest expense, 
having the line installed to begin with, is 
not dependent on amount of use. 

The FCC has not yet recognized that 
data communication to a mass number 
of people is a new form of communica- 
tion. Markets and innovations are only 
beginning to be developed. Further 
development will be thwarted if this 
proposal is adopted. 

By all estimations, more people and 
businesses will sutler than w ill gain if the 
FCC's proposal is adopted. With large 
companies setting up their own connec- 
tions to bypass the access charges, and 
smaller users dropping out of the market 
because of high prices, it would seem that 
eliminating the exemption will impede 
one of this country's greatest assets in 
world competition: innovation from the 
free flow of information. 



Documeniotion consulioni Bruce Miller is 
author ol The Irreverent Guide to Techni- 
cal Writing and board member ol the 
Telecommunications Users Croup, P.O. 
Box 45254. Seattle, WA 98145. 



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your fixed data and macros. And it 
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Ct 



14 

SfPTEMBER21, 1987 



Networking 



INFO 
WORLD 



ISDN Cost, Quality Major Concern of Conference Attendees 



By Paula S. Stone 

DALLAS — Users attending 
ICCC-ISDN "87 last week 
voiced concerns about the cost 
and quality of ISDN, as well as 
connectivity issues. 

"The entire ISDN program 
needs to get fired up or it won't 
happen," said Sherman A. Mur- 
phy, assistant secretary and di- 
rector of communications for 
the Hartford Insurance Group, 
in Hartford. Connecticut, in a 
panel of potential users. 



"The customer market de- 
mand has not. today, shaped the 
vendor's ISDN strategy or 
service definition." Murphy told 
the panel. "This neglect is 
evident by the poor attendence 
of users at this conference." he 
added. 

Murphy said that vendors 
require customers to fund ISDN 
at an unknown cost. "I'm con- 
cerned because the ads stress 
how much the telephone com- 



panies will make off of ISDN, 
not what the benefits will be to 
the user." he said. 

ISDN vendors on a sub- 
sequent panel dodged pricing 
questions raised by the audi- 
ence. "We won't commit to the 
cost of ISDN. The line costs can 
range from 1 .2 to 1 .7 times the 
current price of communication 
lines, said Richard K. Snelling. 
executive vice president of net- 
working for Southern Bell Tele- 



Workstation System Manages Nets 



By Edward Warner 

A workstation-based system for 
managing wide-area networks 
was announced last week by 
Codex Corp. Based on the 
Apollo Domain Scries 3000 
workstation, the graphically ori- 
ented Codex 9800 can config- 
ure, monitor, and control 



network devices, the company 
said. 

Also included is an integrated 
database and integration tools 
for fault, performance, and con- 
figuration management. Codex 
said. Designed for use with the 
Open System Interconnection 



} m 



The Codex 9800 lets users perform network mor>ogemenl applica- 
tions concurrently from a single workstation. 



standards. Codex 9800 offers an 
open architecture so that other 
vendors may integrate their 
products with it. and a single 
system/device interface in order 
to eliminate protocol difTerences 
at the device level. Codex 
elaborated. 

Codex said the 9800 system 
separates network management 
into real-time communications 
and management applications, 
such as configuration manage- 
ment. It offers screen images, 
commands, and management 
tasks that remain unchanged as 
the network expands. Codex 
noted. 

With a base price of $6 1. 900. 
the 9800 will be available in 
January 1988. the company 
reported. 

Codex Corp.. Maresfield 
Farm. 7 Blue Hill River Road, 
Canton, MA 02021: (617) 364- 
2000. 



Gateway Product Links Arcnet to SNA, OSI 

By Mark Stephens 



A gateway product linking Arc- 
net to SNA and OSI and two 
new .^rcnet interface boards 
have been announced by Data- 
point Corp. and Netdesign. res- 
pectively. 

Dalapoint, originator of the 
Arcnet local area network stan- 
dard in 1977. said its Vista Gate 
network communications server 
allows concurrent 3278. 3287. 
3777 Remote Job Entry. IBM 
Document Interchange Archi- 
tecture (DIA). and LU 6.2 ser- 
vices over the same SDLC or 
X.25 data link. 

Vista View. Datapoint's mul- 
titasking, multiwindow inter- 
face thai functions with Vista 
Gate, allows up to eight simulta- 
neous 3270. 3770. and IBM host 
DISOSS/370 sessions on a single 
workstation, according to the 
company. 

The Vista Gate server is 
based on an IBM PC AT or 
compatible with 64()K of RAM 
and a 1.2-mcgabyte floppy disk 
drive. The PC must be supplied 
by the customer or purchased in 
addition to the Vista Gate list 



prices of $5,495 for a I6-user 
SNA/SDLC 3270. 3770 server. 
$6,245 for a 16-user SNA/X.25 
3270. 3770 server, and $3,245 
for an eight-user X.25 server. 

In other Arcnet news. Netde- 
sign is shipping network adapter 
cards for ATs. compatibles, and 
the Macintosh St. 

Netdesign's $695 Actinct 286 
is compatible with both Novell's 
Netware and Banyan's Vines 
and uses a proprietary 16-bit 
interface that Netdesign said 
will double the data access rate 
to the on-board buffer memory. 

The $495 Actinel SE is a 
similar interface card built to 
conform to the Macintosh SE 
bus standard, offering transmis- 
sion rates that Netdesign said 
are 10 times those of Appletalk 
and transmission distances of up 
to 20,(X)0 feet. The card allows 
transmission over coaxial, 
twisted-pair, and fiber-optic 
connections and features what 
Netdesign calls an exclusive 
system that expands the LAN 
bufl'er to 4K. 

Datapoint Corp.. 9725 Data- 



point Drive. San Antonio. TX 
78284; (5 1 2) 699-7000. 

Netdesign. 876 Embareadcro 
Road. Palo Alto. CA 94.303: 
(415) 326-1321. 



phone and Telegraph Co. of At- 
lanta. 

"We will not price ISDN. We 
will price the service to custom- 
ers, which includes the cost of 
ISDN, value-added service, 
range of services, and profit." 
Snelling added. 

Users expressed a wide 
variety ofviews of how ISDN 
will meet their corporate needs. 
"The Hartford Insurance 
Group, while well-positioned to 
implement ISDN, has concerns 
over quality in a mixed vendor 
environment along with the 
more universal problems of reli- 
ability and connectivity." said 
Murphy. 

"We see lots of wavs to use 
ISDN." said James D. Wells, 
management information sys- 
tem director for the $100 
million Johnston. Rhode Island- 
based Gorham Division of 
Textron Inc. "We have not seen 
vendors being able to identify 
the needs of the corporation. We 
have no current plans to expand 
into data communications or 



video." 

American Airlines, which has 
heavy communication needs, 
said it is apparent that ISDN 
may fit very well in replacing the 
current switched service access. 

"Until pricing of new services 
is established, it is difficult to 
embrace ISDN as the ultimate 
solution to future communi- 
cation needs." said Roy 
Brunson. communications pro- 
ject engineer from American 
Airline's Tulsa. Oklahoma, 
office. 

Service availability, network 
control, quality, performance, 
and cost were factors cited by 
Brunson as influencing network 
decisions. 

The conference was the first 
time the five major constituen- 
cies — users, suppliers, carriers, 
regulators, and investors — 
served in a forum to share 
concerns about the future of 
ISDN, according to Thomas E. 
Bolger. chairman and chief ex- 
ecutive officer of Bell Atlantic 
Corp. 



Wireless LAN Communicates 
At 1 9.2 KBPS Within 300 Feet 

By Jeff Angus 



.\ wireless network that accom- 
plishes communications 
through radio frequency waves 
has been jointly developed by 
Technology Development of 
Spokane. Washington, and Ray- 
Net Communication Systems 
Inc. of Vancouver. British Co- 
lumbia. 

Ray-LAN uses Novell 
Netware-compatible software 
and includes an adapter card 
and independent, video-cas- 
sette-size RF transceiver for 
each computer. Inside a build- 
ing, computers within 300 feel 
of each other communicale at 
72 MHz at speeds up to 19.2 
kilobits per second. 

.Availabilitv is scheduled for 



PC Expert System Measures 
Performance of Mainframes 



the first quarter of 1 988. and the 
price will be competitive with 
comparable systems, said A! 
Turtle, project manager. 

Turtle said the system will be 
able to support users working at 
home at distances up to five 
miles given proper conditions. 
He added that the company sees 
Ray-LAN as useful as a 
subnetwork, bridging new in- 
stallations to wired topologies, 
including Netbios. Microsoft's 
Net and LAN Manager. TCP/ 
IP. and other layered LAN 
standards. 

The company said FCC li- 
censing for Ray-LAN involves a 
one-time license for the entire 
site, including all units. Turtle 
said the licensing chore is the 
same as that for a CB radio. 

Rav-Net Communication 
Systems. Inc.. E. 12806 Nora 
Ave.. Spokane. WA 99216: 
(509) 924-2855. 



A PC-based expert system for 
measuring performance of a 
mainframe operating system 
has been announced by Applied 
Data Research of Princeton. 
New Jersey. 

Mindover MVS uses infor- 
mation gathered in an MVS 
operating environment to draw 
conclusions and make recom- 
mendations about mainframe 
performance. ADR officials 
said. 

The program identifies bot- 
tlenecks before they occur, en- 
suring peak system perfor- 
mance. ADR said. 

Mindover MVS uses its own 



communication software, which 
supports the Irma board, to 
communicate with the main- 
frame and its MVS or MV.S/XA 
operating system. 

The program runs on IBM 
PC ATs and compatibles with 
580K of RAM minimum and at 
least 4 megabytes of disk 
storage. The permanent license 
price for Mindover MVS. avail- 
able in the fourth quarter, is 
$42,500. 

Applied Data Research Inc.. 
Route 206 and Orchard Road. 
CN-8. Princeton. NJ 08543; 
(201)874-9000. 

— Scoll Mucc 




The wireless Ray-LAN system. 



: material 



The A*Star 

IE 



MEGAHERTZ 80286 



THE A ★STAR'S CPU PERFORMAMCE 
IS SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE THAT 
OF THE IBM PS/2 MODEL 60." 

-INFOWORLD 




WHO CARES! 

For about $5300, you could own an IBM PS/2 Model 60. But for as little as $1100, you 
could own a Wells American A*Star®that can outperform it. Of course, for nearly the same 
money as an A ★Star, you could also own any number of Asian built no-name clones. 
But then you wouldn't be getting the exclusive ownership advantages that only 
the A*Star offers. Advantages like an 80286 CPU that runs the new MS OS/2 operating 

system and can also run at 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and now... 16 MHz! And you wouldn't be 
getting schematics. (Ours are free!) Or GEVRCA on-site maintenance. Or a no questions 
asked money-back guarantee. Oh, and there's one more little item you wouldn't get... 
peace of mind. Wells American has been making microcomputers longer than IBM! 
In fact, we've probably been making microcomputers longer than anybody\ 

But hey, who are we kidding? Not everyone cares about quality, reputation, support or 
serviceability. That's why there are mail-order houses. And, as hard as it is to believe, not 

everyone cares about money or performance. Maybe that's why there's IBM (and 
Compaq?. .and all the others). But, for computer users who do care, there is. fortunately, 
a vendor who also cares.. .Wells American. And, we'd like to prove it to you. Call us with 
the page number of this ad. It's worth a big discount on your next A*Star computer system. 

Call today 803/796-7800. This offer is limited. , 



Wells American. 



Corporate Headquarters: 3243 Sunset Boulevard • West Columbia. South Carolina 29169 • 803/796-7800 • TWX 510-601-2645 



IBM, OS/2 ana PS/2 are Iraaemarks ol Iniernalional Business Machines Corporation 




16 

SEPnMBERll, 1987 



Netsworking 



INFO 
WORLD 



< USER PROFILE 



City of Atlanta Takes 
Brave Leap Into LANs 

Task Force Plans City Network 



By Robert Snowdon Jones 

Atlanta's City Hall was built in 
1 929, when clunky mechani- 
cal IBM adding machines and 
Underwood typewriters were 
the leading edge of office 
automation technology. 

The city didn't begin 
computerizing its burdensome 
criminal justice and financial 
data until 1972. It installed most 
of the data processing equip- 
ment in city hall, a striking Neo- 
Gothic tower that stands on a 
block catty-comer from the 
gold-domed State Capitol. 

With that kind of approach 
to automation, it comes as no 
surprise that just a few years ago 
a request for a personal comput- 
er was typically rejected by the 
city's budgeters as superfluous. 

"Budgeting for PCs was dis- 
couraged." said Norrene John- 
son Duffy, director of City of 
Atlanta's Office of Manageinent 
Systems. About two years ago. 
however, the data processing 
department finally convinced 
the city's leaders to pursue a 
strategy of nurturing the use of 
PCs. As evidence that times 
have changed, plans for a new 
expansion of City Hall that 



Patsy Madariago set up a resource center ir 
City Hall to give classes, cortsider PC re 
quests, and answer calls from users. 



began this summer are taking 
into account the future needs of 
networking PCs. 

A major building expansion 
to City Hall that staned this 
summer has given the Office of 
Management Systems a chance 
to plan ahead. A task force is 
planning how PCs will be used 
in the new wing and is taking 
advantage of the opportunity to 
make sure they can be 
networked. 

"This is a oncc-in-a-lifetime 
chance to get the projxr wiring 
scheme in place. " said Garry 
Mack, manager of the city's 
computer systems planning and 
research division. The data pro- 
cessing people ha\e been drag- 
ging cables through the cramped 
inner recesses of the old City 
Hall for years, he said. 

"We're now soliciting bid 
proposals for a company to 
handle the design and installa- 
tion of the wiring. " said Mack. 



"Whether it's twisted pair or 
cable, we'll be able to have the 
correct wiring for the new tech- 
nology." The city is also 
experimenting with linking 
computers with fiber-optic ca- 
bles and microwave stations, he 
said. 

This is heady stuff for an 
organization that has, until re- 
cently, rejected using micro- 
computers altogether. The city's 
program for PCs is still in its 
formative stages. Last year, the 
Office of Management Systems 
created an information center 
managed by Patsy Madariaga , 
who had been programming on 
the city's IBM 3081 mainframe 
for the systems and program- 
ming department. 

"A lot of people were re- 
questing PCs." said Madariaga 
of the Office of Management 
Systems' reasons for starting the 
information center. "Some peo- 
ple were bringing computers 
from home." When personal 
computers were finally 
introduced in quantity, Mada- 
riaga said, someone from data 
processing would bring them 
into an office, put them on a 
desk and say, "here 
it Is." 

Madariaga set up 
a microcomputer 
resource center in 
City Hall, where she 
and analyst Row- 
land Welsh conduct 
training classes, con- 
sider requests for 
PCs. and answer 
calls from frustrated 
users. 

Madariaga said 
that in order to stay 
in touch with users' 
needs in the city's 
diverse depart- 
ments, she taps into 
a valuable "human network" 
made up of each department's 
most computer-savvy persons. 
In almost every city office there 
is at least one person who takes a 
higher than usual interest in 
personal computers, according 
to Madariaga. 

The center also supports a 
city employee user group. 

"We've told the user that it's 
no longer against regulations to 
try to be productive," said Duffy 
of the city's new outlook on 
microcomputer usage. 

DuUy and her stall' have not 
decided just how far they will go 
in networking PCs with some of 
the city's larger systems. It 
would not be an easy task 
because, like Atlanta's 
rambunctious growth, the city's 
computer system seems to have 
happened without any sort of 
planning. 

At the heart is an IBM 3081. 
which supports about 500 ter- 




Allonto has finally started planning lor PC and network growth, according to Palsy Madariaga llefll, 
analyst Rowland Welsh Icenterl, and Norrene Johnson Duffy of the Office of Management Systems. 



minals scattered throughout the 
city in 40 locations. It is used 
primarily to house and manipu- 
late the city's criminal justice 
system records. The rest of the 
system is devoted to financial 
and other matters. 

Word processing is accom- 
plished primarily with an IBM 
8 1 50 multiuser system. 

"We're basically an IBM 
shop," explained Madariaga. 
The mainframe handles about 
80 percent of all of the city's 
computing workload. Other sys- 
tems have made their way into 
the city because of their capabil- 
ity to handle specialized tasks. 

The Water Bureau uses a 
Hewlett-Packard minicomputer 
to compile data from hand-held 
meter reader devices. It batch- 
uploads the data to the 
mainframe. 

Two Digital Equipment 
Corp. Microvax minicomputers 
are used at the Motor Transport 
Division, and the Water Bureau 
uses a DEC Vax for water flow 
control. Those systems are inde- 
pendent of the mainframe. 

The city recently bought a 
Wang multiuser word process- 
ing system for exclusive use by 
the city council. Local area 
networks were considered, but 
the city decided on the Wang 
system because of a complete 
service and supfwrt agreement, 
said Mack. 

"A problem was that because 
city council is such a political 
area, we were more concerned 
with support and maintenance 
than performance," Mack said. 
"LAN vendors don't give that 
level of support and main- 
tenance." 

With the exception of the 
Wang system, multiuser word 
processing is on its way out in 
city ofl iccs, Duffy said. 

"We don't encourage expan- 
sion on (the IBM 8150]. " Duffy 
said. '■Wc"ve found that histori- 
cally there's not a need for 
central word processing 
svstems." 



Mack said the IBM word 
processor, which was purchased 
in 1982. has become a major 
support problem, especially 
since it is so ditTicult to teach 
new employees how to use it. 
"Those w ho know how to use it 
seem to like it," he said. 

About 50 of the mainframe's 
terminals arc IBM PCs that 
emulate IBM terminals using 
Digital Communications Inc.'s 
Irma communications boards 
and software. Another 200 PCs. 
mostly IBMs with a smattering 
of Compaqs and Macintoshes, 
are distributed throughout the 
city in various offices. 

Currently, the Irma- 
equippcd PCs can only act as 
transiiction terminals: no data 
can be queried or 
downloaded. Duf- 
fy's office is current- 
ly evaluating a 
fourth-generation 
language for the 
IBM mainframe 
that will permit 
querying. 

"What end-users 
want is access to 
data." said Mack. 
"Even if they could 
access it right now. it 
wouldn't be in a 
formal that they 
could use." 

A LAN study is 
being conducted in 
anticipation of the 
purchase of larger 
numbers of personal computers. 

A LAN will probably be 
installed in the purchasing 
department. Madariaga said. 
And the L-^N task force is 
looking at having built-in LANS 
in the new building. She remains 
skeptical of industry experts 
who say all PCs will eventually 
be networked. "There's still a 
need for plain old office 
automation that doesn't need to 
tap into other systems." she 
said. 

Duffy agrees. She isn't con- 
vinced that LANs are necessary 



in many of the city's applica- 
tions. When the city does buy 
LANs, it may look for ones that 
cause a minimum of fuss rather 
than ones laden with features. 

"I'm committed on a vecy 
simple scale," DufTy said. "1 
want to sec a file server with 
spokes and very basic polling 
techniques. I don't want to get a 
system that's more sophisticated 
than users can benefit from." 

Duffy also has reservations 
about electronic mail, especially 
on the mainframe. 

"I have this fear of having 
8,000 employees getting on ter- 
minals and sending messages at 
the same time," Duffy laughed. 
She prefers voice mail over 
electronic mail for manv of the 




Norrene Johnson Duffy said she 's committed 
to LANs, but doesn't want a system more 
sophisticated than users can benefit from. 



city's applications. "Our depart- 
ments don't have that much 
need to send documents to other 
organizations in the city." she 
said. 

Duffy's overall philosophy 
about PCs is that the OITice of 
Management Systems should 
act in a consulting role with end- 
users, rather than dictate how 
they use personal computers. 
"In general, we're standing out 
of the way so they can have 
productivity." Duffy said. "We 
stand b\ on the sidelines as a 
guide to help them get it done." 



i^o^, i.yii.Lo uialerial 



BUY 
THE NUMBERS. 



There's only one way to make sure that youVe 
buying a genuinely high-performance sys- 
tem and that's to evaluate the competition 
by the real numbers. 



And when you compare Tandon's num- 
bers against our major competition there's 
no doubt who's really selling the systems of 
the future. 





TARGA 20 


PS/2 MODEL 30 


TARGA 40 PLUS 


PS/2 MODEL 50 


1 PROCESSOR: 

rfc MEMORY: 

Standard 

Memory Management 


80286 
6/8 Mhz 
dual speed 


Si IS(-. 
8 Mhz 




80286 
8/10 Mhz 
dual speed 


80286 
10 Mhz 




1 MB 

Yes 


640 KB 

No 




1 MB 

Yes 


1 MB 

No 




O DISK STORAGE: 

Capacity 

Effective access time 

A COMPATIBILITY: 

4 5'/4" floppy 
^ Runs OS/2 










20 MB 
85 ms 


20 MB 
85 ms 




40 MB 
35 ms 


20 MB 
85 ms 




Yes 
Yes 


No 

Nr. 




Yes 
Yes 


No 
Yes 




5 PRICE: 


SI .999 


82.295 




$2,995 


»3,595 















Take the excitingly priced Targa 20. 
Thanks to its powerful 80286 processor it 
dramatically outperforms the PS/2 model 30. 
And it supports Microsoft's OS/2, the oper- 
ating system standard of the future. 

Or put the Targa 40 up against their PS/2 
model 50. Double the storage capacity, inno- 
vative disk cache technology, and a Tandon 



low price. 

So whether you need a powerful system to 
help you manage your business, or else a high- 
performance file server at the heart of your 
network, the Tandon Targa is the ideal fit. 

For more details on the powerful Tandon 
Targa family call: National 1-800-556-1234 
ext. 171, California 1-800-441-2345 ext. 171. 



-0^ 





Price. Selection. Quality. 



Please send me your Tandon Fact Pac, 

a comprehensive set of literature and prtxiuct reviews: 

Name . 

Company 

Address 

City/State/Zip . 

Telephone 



Tandon Computer Corporation 
405 Science Drive 
Moorpark.CA 93021 
(805)378-6104 



PS/2 and OS/2 a/e registered Irademarhs of IBM Corporation. Microsoft Windows is a registered trademarli of MlciosoH C^orporation. Prices displayed do not include monitor 



Hold on to your socks. 



wQPcRSoftware 



19 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



News 
Briefs 

Instant Recall to Provide 
2 Prolog Tools Versions 

A new source code library 
for programmers of either 
Arity Prolog or Borland In- 
ternational's Turbo Prolog is 
available as a productivity 
tool from Instant Recall. 

Prolog Tools is available 
in versions for the Arity or 
Borland Prolog implementa- 
tions. The $99 products 
include a high-level tracer a 
program executive for track- 
ing flow, backtracking 
control predicates: list. tree, 
and string libraries; a math 
library, and a tutorial-librari- 
an program. 

The productsare designed 
to helpdevelopers use Prolog 
for general business as well 
as AI applications. 

Instant Recall, 5900 Wal- 
ton Road. P.O. Box 30134. 
Bethesda.MD208l4:(30l) 
530-0898. 

Contest Seeks the Most 
Disorganized Hard Disks 

Disorganized hard disks can 
win prizes in a contest spon- 
sored by hard disk utility de- 
veloper Access Softek. 

The developer ofthe 
Microsoft Windows-based 
Dragnet will award each of 
the 1 00 most chaotic en- 
trants a beta test version of 
their software solution, an 
unannounced product that 
cleansdisorganized hard 
disks, as well as a discount 
on the document search pro- 
gram Dragnet. 

The company said entries 
should consist of a printed 
directory structure and file 
listing for the hard disk, and 
"a short dcscri ption of the 
tragediesand traumas the 
disorganization hascauscd." 
The deadline for entries is 
October 3 1 and should be 
submitted to the company 
with an envelope marked 
"Contest." 

Access Softek. 3204 
Adeline St.. Berkeley, CA 
94703; (4 15) 654-0 1 90. 

Personal Chedcs Toolkit 
Doubles as learning Aid 

ftrsonal Checks Toolbox 
from Computech is now 
available as both a source 
code library ofTurbo C 
routines and a learning aid 
for beginningC program- 
mers. 

Computech"saim is to 
show a new programmer the 
source code and to see how 
ROM BIOS. DOS. and other 
C functions are written by 
providing a model to follow. 

Personal Checks Toolbox, 
released last month, costs 
$75. 

Continued on Poge 22 



• ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

AI Users Get More Than 
Hard-Dollar Returns 

Systems Serve Many Functions 




Ford's robotics repair expert system has automated diagnostics arid 
shortened manufacturing department repair time, said Don Smith. 



By Paula S. Stone 

Users of artificial intelligence 
applications are finding in- 
creased productivity, reduced 
training, and other benefits be- 
sides hard-dollar returns on in- 
vesting in expert systems. 

"One ofthe largest benefits is 
to store knowledge and make it 
available to others, to leverage 
knowledge like a stockbroker 
leverages dollars to his advan- 
tage." said Don Smith, supervi- 
sor of advanced manufacturing 
engineering for Ford Motor Co.. 
in Milan, Michigan. Ford engi- 
neers use Maintenance Assis- 
tance, an expert system they 
created in January 1986 using 
Texas Instruments" Portable 
Computer and ftrsonal Con- 
sultant, a shell that helps non- 
programmers design and use an 
expert system, said Smith. 



The program, used in six 
Ford plants, replaces a 1,000- 
page robotics manual and actu- 
ally goes beyond the printed 
page to provide an "intelligent 
service manual," Smith said. 

Every moment a machine in 
the manufacturing department 
goes unused costs Ford money 
in manufacturing time lost. 
Smith said. But diagnosing a 
broken gear tooth in a harmonic 
drive took five minutes using 
the program instead of one week 
by the older manual method. 

"Maintenance Assistance has 
been so successful. ASEA. our 
Swedish robotics manufacturer, 
is expanding our program to 
include with their own ma- 
chines as a standard feature," 
Smith said. 

Such AI reference applica- 



tions can be useful in any 
industry with complex data. For 
example. Purdue University de- 
veloped and released Grain 
Market Advisor this spring. 

'"The program helps farmers 
determine the best selling alter- 



native that would lead to the 
best selling price.'" said Bill 
Uhrig. professor of agricultural 
economics at Purdue, in West 
Lafayette. Indiana. 

Farmers use the program to 
identify complex and uncertain 
variables in 1 3 different market 
situations that would take weeks 
to learn to (jerform manually, 
Uhrig said. Farmers can begin 
using the program in minutes. 

For others who experiment 
with AI tools, the expert system 
can provide another perspec- 
tive, similar to having another 
colleague to consult. At Amoco 
Corp. of Chicago the public 
affairs oft'ice has for the past few 
months used Thoughtline. an AI 
package for writers by Dallas- 
based Xpercom. 

"An expert system is not a 
silver bullet. It is a tool that 
imposes discipline to the think- 
ing process in approaching the 
assignment from a different per- 
spective," said George Miga, 
director of public and govern- 
ment afl'airs program devel- 
opment for Amoco. 



Firms Must Weigh Canned vs. Custom AI Tools 



Companies looking at expert systems must 
choose between off-the-shelf applications 
and shell packages to develop custom systems, 
or they take a dual approach using canned and 
toolkit packages, said experienced users. 

"The decision should be based on the 
problem you're trying to solve and the correct 
solution considering the cost, benefit, and level 
of function needed," said Mark Linesch, 
product marketing manager for Texas Instru- 
ments' artificial intelligence development. 

"Buy an off-the-shelf package if it offers an 
80 percent solution. Otherwise, buy a shell and 
build a custom program,"" said Linesch. 

Time and the complexity of the problem to 
be solved are other factors, said Dennis 
Pickron, information center manager for the 
University of Vii^nia, in Charlottesville. 



"You're ahead if you can get a canned 
package that fits the application, since the risk 
to develop an expert system is much higher," 
Pickron said. The university is using a 
prototype expert system to help diagnose 
connectivity problems. It developed the system 
with Knowledge Engineering System software 
from Software Architecture and Engineering. 

Others mix technology to meet their needs. 

"We have such diverse requirements that we 
use both types of packages,"' said a program- 
ming supervisor at a major architectural, 
engineering, and construction company. 

"We bought a shell and developed our own 
programs to criticize the design quality of 
computer three-dimensional models and select 
the proper field-handling equipment for specif- 
ic conditions,"" he said. 



Microlytics Unveils $59.95 
Program for Text Search 



Microlytics ' Gofer program lets users search an entire unindexed hard 
disk for a word, number, or short phrase. 



I COfar tlaln htarw ■ 

DrlussOlroctorVT Tilml Ulvti? 



• SKTtS TCCT TO CO FOR • 



Quit Optlonc 



l-I 




Alt-L : M^OR/NOT/NEMBV 
Alt-E : Chanflv Exactnass 
Arrotst rtoua Cursor 



Cntvr: tecapt Cntr^ 
Alt-F: Accspt All 
be : Main timj 



lock 8 s*w« 
rint oontralK 

Ick functions 
horthuid 



DlcpU>4 CcnUr ChltRNt OikUord Dnt Blk HIdvSlk MoiwSIk Cop>jBlk Bes BIklEnd Slk 
IHotp ZUndo 3Undrlln4Bold SDoILln«60nlUerd7All9n BRuler SSiuB S BDona 



By Edward Warner 

A RAM-resident program that 
searches as much as an entire 
unindexed hard disk for key- 
words or phrases was introduced 
last week by Microlylics Inc. 

The $59.95 Gofer lets users 
search for a word, number, or 
shon phrase, according to Mi- 
crolytics. To narrow the search, 
users may select up to seven 
other words, numbers, or short 
phrases, specifying their prox- 
imity to the keyword, said a 
company spokesman. The pro- 
gram searches approximately I 
megabyte per minute on a PC 
AT-class system, said Michael 
Winer, president of Microlytics. 

Once Gofer finds the word or 
phrase sought, the program dis- 



plays it and the 10 lines of 
surrounding text. That text can 
be directly imported into a 
Gofer-compatible word proces- 
sor such as Microsoft Word. 
Word Star, Mullimate, Word 
Ptrl'ect, Multimalc Advantage, 
and others. 

After a search. Gofer displays 
a directory of files that contain 
the keyword searched and the 
number of its occurrences in 
each file, Weiner said. 

The program is also rare in its 
capability to avoid indexing, 
which can take up time and as 
much as 20 percent of a file's 
capacity, and in its speed, Wei- 
ner said. Gofer can also be 
loaded from DOS as a separate 



program that takes up 79K of 
RAM or run as a RAM-resident 
program. It is not copv-protect- 
ed. 

The program will be avail- 
able October I at its introduc- 



tory price, which will increase 
later to $79.95. the company 
said. 

Microlytics Inc.. Techniplex. 
300 Main St.. East Rochester, 
NY 1 4445: (7 16) 248-9 1 50. 

Cc[ , . ■ 



Tape Compatibility 






IBM PC 



IBM PC/XT 



IBM PC/AT 



Data Interchangeability 

Everex extends its leadership in taf>e backup systems from the existing PC/XT/AT compatibles 
to the new PS/2 computer Models 30, 50, and 60. We are shipping new tape systems to 
provide you with complete backup protection against data loss 
resulting from disk failures. 

The tapes recorded with PC/XT/AT compatibles using Everex 
software can also be read by your new PS/2 machines. 
Moreover, the data recorded at one site can be 
transported to a remote location for retrieval 
or can be safely stored 
for archival purposes. 

Multiple Models 

Whether your preference is cassette 
or cartridge, we offer 1 2 different 
internal and external models 
ranging in capacity from 40MB 
to 125MB. If you currently 
have PC/XT/AT compatible 
computers, you may want an 
internal dedicated tape system. 
If you are switching to the new 
PS/2 computers, an external taF>e 
system may be ideal for your needs. 

Automatic 

The world-renowned Scheduler™ 
program, included with our software, provides the 
priceless feature of backing up disk files at a predetermined 
time Automatically. Up to 8 events may be scheduled in advance 
so you do not have to be physically present to start the backup. The program 
even waits for you to complete your work before it initiates its operation. 




EVEREX, EVER for EXcallence, IBM, PC/XT, PC/AT, PS/2, and Scheduler are trademarks and registered 
trademarks of their respective companies. ©1987 Everex Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 



E 



V 



E 



Across The Board 






IBM PS/2 Model 30 



IBM PS/2 Model 50 



IBM PS/2 Model 60 




Fast 

Backup is performed at a streaming speed of up to 5MB/min so that 
even a 40/vlB disk can be backed up in less than 10 minutes! 

Reliable 

The built-in data verification in the QIC-24 format assures data 
integrity, in case of an error, the data is automatically rewritten 
up to 16 times to insure its validity. Furthermore, 
the Everex tape software can optionally verify 
the data bit-by-bit for your complete 
satisfaction and peace of mind. 



The Total Solution 

All systems are delivered with a drive, 
controller/adapter, cables, software, manual 
and a tape cassette/cartridge. The whole works 
for a small price! And our products are sold 
with a 1-year warranty of parts and labor. 
Our fully trained technical support staff is 
ready to assist you with any questions. 

Call us now. Buy Everex to 
compute with confidence. 



For more information or the name of the Everex dealer nearest you: 

In USA 1-800-821-0806 

In California 1-800-821-0807 




VERE^ 

48431 Milmont Drive, Fremont, CA 94538 



Over 150,000 tape controllers shipped. 

R E X 



22 



SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



Soft:ware 



INFO 
WORLD 



News Briefs 

Continued From Poge 19 

Computech. P.O. Box 7000-309. 
Redondo Beach. CA 90277; (213) 377- 
7198. 

Lattice DBC III Libraries to Support 
Borland International's C Compiler 

Lattice Inc. last month announced that 
its DBC III libraries, which allow C 
programs to use Dbase III data files, now 
support BoHand International's Turbo C 
compiler. DBC III enables users to 
replace or extend Dbase III programs 
while retaining data files. 

DBC 111. for single users, costs $250, 
and DBC 111 Plus, for multiuser systems 



and solving network database problems, 
costs $750. Source code is available as an 
option. Lattice also offers versions to 
support both Lattice and Microsoft 
Corp. C compilers. 

Lattice Inc., 2500 S. Highland Ave., 
Lombard. IL 60 1 48; (3 1 2) 9 1 6- 1 600. 

United Software Updates Talcetwo 
To Offer File Annotation, Recovery 

United Software Security Inc. announced 
a new version of its Taketwo automatic 
backup and recovery program that adds a 
memory resident file manager, file anno- 
tation, file recovery, and management 
reporting. 

The $ 1 39 program's pop-up file man- 
ager prevents accidental data loss by 
allowing DOS commands — including 
Rename. Copy, and Delete — to be 



invoked within an application. In addi- 
tion, users may \erify a file's contents 
without leaving the application. 

Taketwo Manager is available now, 
and free upgrades are available to site and 
corporate license customers under Unit- 
ed Software Security's maintenance pro- 
gram. Other registered users of Taketwo, 
Version 1.10 can receive an upgrade for 
$25 through September 30. 

United Software Security Inc.. 8133 
Lcesburg Pike. Vienna. VA 22180: (703) 
556-0007. 

Boston Computer Society Provides 
Technical Word Processor Reviews 

Reviews of 20 technical word processors 
for IBM PC-compalible systems are 
available as reprints from the Boston 
Computer Society's IBM PC Technical 



ix»resTic 

L— FOREIGX 
WILS 
XISEE 
— HEMDEV 
—PRESS 
I— SALES 

I— X<1ESTlr 



Power Users and Professionals. . . 

We Heard You! 



xtref; 

The Standard for File and 
Directory Management 




DISK: H: 

BytM: J, 627, 



■u. p:'. 


.con 


?. 


.a.. 


MmniEWJ.HOT 






.KLP 


3 


.a, . 


BICFOKT .wrr 




.pot 


. -il 


.a.. 


BTGKEYS .HOT 




APPS 


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m 


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EHEAK .HOT 


'^9 



DIR Available Delete Filcsftc lof disk 
COnnANDS 'Shouall 'Tig 'Untie Voluae eXecu 
'1 scroll RETURN file cooiands ALT menu 



X if eePro 

Advanced Disk Management 
for Today's Professionals 



In 198.5. when you wert- confused b_v the rom- 
plexitif;*! of DOS and organizing your files 
and directories became a prohlem, XTKEK " 
was ihere. XTRKF gave yon a graphic pre- 
sentation of your directory structure, enabled 
vou to copy or delete nhole groups of files 
with a single kevstroke. Iitcaled files more 
rapidly,, and ulili/^d special operations DOS 
didn't provide. XTRKr defined a standunl 
for the iiidu!itry and was internationally 
praised as '^lnpa^alteled" anil "a classic**. 

Bui todaVf when 40 megabyte disk drives are 
common and drives exceeding H) megabytes 
are not unusual, you need a file manager 
with more speed and unlimited file handling 
capabilities. 

Now There's a Choice! 

XTREE PRO"* U here ioAar, ready to 
take its place beside XTKEK to define a new 
standard for those who demand a new level 
of performance. 

XTREE PRO boasts a number of 
advanced features: 

■ Improved File Management 

up tf> 16,m)0 files 

■ Quick Dirik Logging 

up to seven times faster 

■ Multiple Drive Logging 

log up to 26 drives 




) Dynamic Text Lditor 

Create and edit a file from within 

XTRFK PRO 
^ File Attribute Security 

protect movement or deletion of 

system files 
-J Global Commands 

showall files across all drives 
■ Multiple File Specification 

up to four different file specifications 
^ Special View Command 

view files of different formaLs 
3 Destination Pointer 

eliminate tvping a path command 
■ Command Shelf 

DOS-like command line 

So. if you're in m-ed of an elegant file 
manager, buy XTKEE (Siifig. Retail $69,9.i). 
¥itr even more power and .speed, purchase 
XTREE PRO (Sugg. Retail $129) today! 



If you currently own XTREE 
or any other file 
management program, call 
about our SPECIAL 
TRADE-IN OFFER! 



NOT COPY PROTECTED 
ftoqulr** 

IBM PC. XT, AT, PS,'2 or tOO% comp«t«bl« 
DOS vereiort 2-1 or higher 

Not network compRiibI* ' 



•o 



Cxacutive Systems. Inc. 

15300 Ventura Blvd Suite 305 

Sti.tman Oaks CA 91403 

Fix informstion. coll 1818) 990-3457 

oc 1800} 834-5545 

In CA (8001 551-5353 



tmi ».«K1M| r 



Special Interest Group. 

Reviewed were Chiwritcr. The Egg. 
EXP. Spellbinder Scientific. T-Cubed. 
Tech/Star. Tech/Word. Formath. Micro 
Tex. PC Tex. Manuscript. MASS-1 1. PS. 
Samna Word IV. Tcchwriler. Word 
Marc Composer. Exact. Techprinl II. 
Turbo Fonts, and SWO Enhancements 
to Word R;rfcet. 

The evaluations cover organizational 
features, page layout, graphics, data 
interchange, and other factors, as vvell as 
benchmark equations. 

The reviews originally appeared in the 
January. February, and April issues of 
Solid's of the . Imericun Slalhcmalical 
Socieiy. They are available for $ 1 2. plus 5 
percent sales tax for Massachusetts resi- 
dents. 

Carl A. Hein, Dunslcr House. Apt. 7. 
Swanson Road. Boxborough. MA 01719. 

Microsoft Fortran, Version 4.01 
Runs IOC and EXP Functions Faster 

Microsoft Corp. of Redmond. Washing- 
ton, last week announced a faster version 
of its Microsoft Fortran optimizing 
compiler. The update speeds the LOG 
and EXP functions used in scientific 
applications, as well as fixes a few bugs in 
the program, according to a Microsoft 
spokesman. 

The new Microsoft Fortran. Version 
4.01 updates the compiler released in 
January and is available free to registered 
owners of 4.0. Owners of older versions 
may obtain the upgrade for $1 50. 

Microsoft Corp.. P.O. Box 97017. 
Redmond. WA 98073; (206) 882-8080. 

Quaid Software Releases Envelope 
Printing Utility for PCs and PS/2s 

A RAM-resident envelope printing 
utility. The Envelope Please, was recently 
released on 3'/;-inch disk format by 
Quaid Software Ltd. 

The program lets users import or 
input an address on a screen and then, 
with a single keystroke, output it to a 
printer. It supports Epson and compati- 
ble dot-matrix printers, most daisy-wheel 
printers, and Hewlett-Packard Laserjet 
compatibles and runs on any PC or PS/2 
compatible. It also supports a sideways 
printing option. 

The Envelope Please is priced at $39 
and is available directly from the devel- 
oper. 

Quaid Software Ltd.. 45 Charles St. 
East. Third Floor. Dept. P, Toronto, 
Ontario, M4Y 1S2 Canada; (416) 961- 
8243. 

North Edge Expands Data Fields 
In its Time and Billing Program 

North Edge Software Corp. recently 
released an update to its time and billing 
system. Timeslips. 

Version 3. 1 expands data fields to 
2.000 characters from 144. and has 250 
macros for commonly used phrases, the 
company said. Built in arc new proce- 
dural macros for bills and reports. 

Timeslips can manage 3.400 clients. 
250 professionals, and 2.50 activities. Its 
report generator can produce 30 types of 
bar graphs and pic charts and export data 
to most spreadsheets and databases. 

Timeslips 3.1 sells for $199.95. and 
registered users of earlier releases will 
receive $100 credit toward the new 
version, the company said. 

The program runs on an IBM PC or 
PS/2-compatiblc system with 384K of 
K.\M and a hard disk drive. 

North Edge Software Corp.. 239 
Western Ave.. Essex. MA 01929; (617) 
468-7358. 



Cl 



INFO 
WORLD 



Sciftware 



23 

SEPTEMBERS!, 1987 



< TECHNOLOGY UPDATE 



Airus to License Pattern 
Recognition Teciinology 



By Jeff Angus 

What is touted as the first 
real-time generalized pat- 
tern recognition technology is 
being licensed now to devel- 
opers, including Ashton-Tate. 

Airus Inc.'s Airus-B technol- 
ogy can handle interstitial 
parsing and pattern recognition 
— executing the tasks in the 
gaps that occur during user 
input and allowing real-time 
responses, said Daxe Fenwick. 
Airus president. 

A subset of this technology 
appears in .Airus" Write Now 
word processor. .\s a user t> pes. 
the system uses the idle time 
between key strokes to check the 
letters in the word to see if it can 
either add to or finish the 
spelling. The user can actually 
lei the program complete a word 
or phrase instead of typing it in 
manually. 

That subset. Airus-A. is more 
useful for specific applications, 
said Sara Spang, editor of I'lic 
Spani; Ruhiiisnii Rc/'drl. a Palo 
Alto. California, newsletter that 
follows trends in artificial in- 
telligence. 

Spang said she found that the 
practical application of having 
the system complete words did 
not speed up her w riting. but she 
did find benefits during repeti- 



tive entry tasks such as order 
forms. 

.Airus-B can serve as a front 
end for a wide range of input 
processing tasks, but dilTci's in 
being capable of handling virtu- 
ally any kind of input rather 
than being optimized specifical- 
ly for'te.vt. sound, graphics, or 
handwriting. Fenwick said. He 
expects a wide spectrum of 
application de\elo|iers will want 
to license Airus-B. 

For example. Fenwick points 
to cursive handwriting recogni- 
tion as a natural task for the 
technology. Other microcom- 
puter technologies that try to 
recogni/e handwritten input are 
limited and work only from 
finished writing, he said. Using 
real-time recognition on con- 
nected characters could open 
new uses for micros, according 
to Fenwick. 

He also expects to see Airus- 
B techniques used for signature 
analysis. 

■'Whereas handwriting recog- 
nition requires removing the 
personality to find the core 
elements, signature recognition 
is the opposite." he said. "The 
important features to recognize 
are the personality asjxcts — 
pressure and speed — not 



Airus' Technology Adds Real-Time Validation 



Current Interactive Processing Scheme 




^ □□□□□□ ^ 



INPUT 
STREAM 



iNPur 

PROCESSOR 



> IIIIIIIN i^ PA»S,R 



BUFFERED _ 
INPUT ♦ 

INPUT ERROR 
PROCESSING 



APPLICATION 
TAKtS 
OVER 



Airus' "Real-Time" Recognition / Validation Scheme 



1^ 



INPUT ERROR 
PROCESSING 

t 



• □□□□□□ 



STREAM 



(NPUI 
PROCESSOR 



APPliCATION 
TAKES 
OVER 



Real-lime recognition technology differs significantly from traditional pattern recognition 
technologies. The traditional technologies operate interactively Ifirst figure). They buffer input, parse 
it, interpret it, and process it. An example would be a grammar syntax checker. It waits for the period, 
buffers the sentence as a conceptual work unit, parses the elements, and then interprets the syntax. 
Airus ' real-time recognition technology responds to each granule of data as it is added (second 
figure). The Airus libraries check for recognition against the database during times when the 
processor is waiting for the human operator. The technology delegates most of the required 
intelligence to the data structure, making for less code intelligence responsibility and resulting in more 
compact code lless than 25K) and faster processing. 



shape." 

However, at least one analyst 
watching the AI industry said 
users should not expect applica- 
tions from the technology soon. 
"While the technology is im- 
pressive. I don't believe the 
market exists for programs this 
technology can support, fhe 



users aren't there yet." accord- 
ing to Harvey Newquist. editor 
of .11 Tri'iith. in Phoenix. 
Arizona. 

But Fenwick points to such 
practical applications of real- 
time recognition as "smart" 
data entry, command line pro- 
cessing, pattern recognition 



similar to OCR. fingerprint and 
retinal capillary identification, 
vision systems, and CAD/CAM 
applications that could com- 
plete constructs the way Write 
Now completes partial words. 

Airus Inc.. 10:00 S.W. Nim- 
bus Ave.. Suite G-5. Portland. 
OR 9722.-!;(.';0.'5)620-7«)0. 



Lifeboat Expands Programming Line 

By Jeff Angus 



SoftcraftPalr 
To Simplify 
Font-Editing 

By Mark Brownstein 

A pair of programs that simplify 
font-editing and make it easier 
to imp<irt fonts into page layout 
applications are due for release 
this fall from Softcraft Inc. 

The two very difTerent pro- 
grams were designed to enhance 
materials printed using Soft- 
craft. Bitstream. or Hewlett- 
Packard fonts, and work v\ith 
Aldus' Pagemaker for the PC or 
Ventura Publisher. Version 1.1. 

Font Effects, scheduled to 
ship at the end of this month, 
lets a user modify a font for 
different visual effects. For ex- 
ample, a font set can be given a 
three-dimensional appearance 
with drop shadows, or filled 
with horizontal lines, squares, or 
other characters. It can also be 
rescaled. slanted for custom 
italics, or reversed. The program 
is priced at $95. 

The other nev\ program. 
W^ SIfonts. automates font in- 
stallation into Ventura Publish- 
er. .Aldus Pagemaker. or Micro- 
soft Windows with the HPPCL 
primer driver, converting the 
font format when necessary, 
said William Overman. Soft- 
craft vice president. 



He said WVSIfonts goes be- 
yond most other font programs 
by producing screen fonts di- 
rectly from a printer font specifi- 
cation. WVSIfonts produces 
font files for HP Laserjet Plus 
and Series II printers. AST 
Turbolaser. JIaser. or Cordata 
laser printers. The Ventura ver- 
sion of WVSIfonts will be avail- 
able in late October, and the 
Pagemaker version is expected 
in December, he said. Each 
version will have a suggested list 
price of $95. 

Softcraft Inc., 16 N, Carroll. 
Suite 500. Madison. WI 5.170.^; 
(8001 .V5 1-0500. (60X) 257-.1.1()0. 



By Mark Brownstein 

Ashton-Iate Corp. last week 
began shipping Multimatc Ad- 
vantage II L AN. a L.AN version 
of its Multimate Advantage II 
word processing program. Sin- 
gle-user versions of Multimate 
Advantage II began shipping in 
April. 

1 he LAN version provides 
all the features of the single-user 
version, as v\cll as some network 
support features. Included 
among the new features arc 
provisions for file and document 
sharing, as well as shared access 



Lifeboat Associates has greatly 
enlarged its Advantage pro- 
gramming tools product line 
with three new products: a 
graphics development toolkit, a 
screen painter, and a screen 
management source code li- 
brary. 

Quickscreen is a screen paint- 
ing and building utility designed 
for corporate environments in 
which users have .1270 terminals 
as well as PCs. It supports trans- 



to libraries, dictionaries, and 
key procedures on the network 
server. 

Printing enhancements to the 
network release give users access 
to networked or local printers. 
In addition, file and document 
locking are provided. These 
features can be used to protect a 
document from being edited 
simultaneously by more than 
one user. 

I he workstation version runs 
on PS/2- and PC AT-compati- 
ble systems with a minimum of 



action processing and high-level 
programming and helps users 
migrate from .1270 to PC envi- 
ronments without sulTering the 
"keyboard shock" of adjusting 
to the dilTerent layout, accord- 
ing to Jack McAuley. Lifeboat 
vice president of marketing. The 
$195 program comes with an 
editor that allows interactive 
painting and screen testing, and 
compiles to object code with a 
one-key command. 



.150K of RAM. A 640K server is 
also recommended. 

The program is compatible 
with PC LAN. Novell Advanced 
Netware 86 and 286. and .ICom 
.IPIus. 

The Multimate Advantage II 
LAN Pack includes one server 
and five workstation modules. 
The LAN version is priced at 
$1,595, and additional worksta- 
tion modules are available for 
$150 each. 

Users of current versions of 
Multimate products may obtain 
upgrade information directly 
from Ashton-Tate's Multimate 
customer service department at 
(20.1) 522-2116. 

Ashton-Tate Corp.. 20101 
Hamilton Ave.. Torrance. CA 
90.502; (21.1) 329-8000. 



Advantage Graphics is a 
$250 object-oriented graphics 
library for C programmers, de- 
signed to give PC programmers 
the advanced capabilities of 
Macintosh. Sun and Apollo 
workstations. The product sup- 
ports full W YSIWY G ( "what 
you see is what you get") 
reproduction with such features 
as automatic aspect ratio com- 
pensation and Postscript-style 
attribute typing. Advantage 
Graphics works with compilers 
from Lattice. Borland, and 
Microsoft. 

Panel Plus is an updated 
screen management library for 
data entry, display, and editing. 
The C source code is included in 
the $495 product, and the user- 
altered modules can be recom- 
piled on a dilVerent system by 
using preprocessor define state- 
ments. Panel Plus adds func- 
tions not in its precursor. Panel, 
including built-in support for 
background processing during 
data entry, 41-line ECiA text 
mode, and the capability to 
initialize fields larger than the 
field display w indow . It supiwrts 
C compilers from A/tee. Bor- 
land. Lattice. Microsoft, and 
Wizard. 

Lifeboat Associates. 55 S. 
Broadwav. Tarrvtown. NV 
1059l:(9i4).1.12-l'875. 



Ashton-Tate Begins Shipping 
Multimate Advantage II LAN 



24 

SEPHMBER 21, 1987 



INFO 
WORLD 



Management 
Package Runs 
With Windows 

By Peggy Watt 

A mullilevel project manage- 
ment package that runs under 
Microsoft Windows is being 
released this month by Strategic 
Software Planning Corp. 

Project Outlook is built 
around a multilevel "hammock- 
ing" scheme that lets users set a 
goal — designated the ham- 
mocking activity — and define 
it by tasks needed to meet it: or 
users can build a project sched- 
ule from the smaller tasks, said 
marketing director Douglas 
Barth. 

The program can prcxiucc a 
Work Breakdown Structure 
(WBS). automatically gener- 
ating activity codes or critical 
paths. Barth said. The project 
manager provides "what if 
scenarios and lets users enter 
data in a schedule or Ganntt 
chart, which arc dynamically 
linked. It also has a built-in 
outline processor. 

Project Outlook handles data 




Programs Help Repair 
Damaged Dbase Files 



Proiect Outlook lets the user schedule projects with a "hammockmg' 
structure, in which a handful of /osis are underneath a protect goal. 



manipulation through Promis. a 
$2.99*) high-end project man- 
agement program introduced by 
Strategic Software in 1984 and 
which is required to run Out- 
look. Barth said. The user calls 
Project Outlook from a shared 
menu and does not see the 
Promis interface. 

Barth said Windows answers 
users' requests for an easier-to- 
usc interface and helps them 



adjust to the graphical Presenta- 
tion Manager. 

Strategic Software recom- 
mends a PC XT or AT with a 
hard disk drive and 2 to 3 
megabytes of free storage. Pro- 
ject Outlook is priced at $495 
and is available now with a run- 
time version of Windows 1 .04. 

Strategic Software Planning 
Corp.. 245 First St.. Cambridge. 
MA 02142: (617) 577-8800. 



Tool Eases Screen, Interface Design 



By Jeff Angus 

Skylights, a new productivity 
tool from Ergosyst Associates 
Inc.. provides building blocks 
for easier design of screens and 
interfaces and has proved a 
time-saver for several program- 
mers who adopted it. 

The company says current 
users have saved up to 80 
percent of the time they budget- 
ed for building user interface 
modules, either as customized 
user interfaces or prototypes. 



The program is a device- 
independent development set of 
editors and utilities. Through a 
variety of graphical approaches, 
it supports creation of interac- 
tive interfaces without requiring 
coding. 

Options include such stan- 
dard elements as icons, win- 
dows, pop-up and pull-down 
menus, dialogue bo.xcs and 
scroll bars, as well as interactive 
screens, touch-screen com- 



Graphstation, Version 3.0 
Offers Vector-Based Graphics 

By Paula S. Stone 



Software Clearing House will 
ship ne.xt month an update of 
Graphstation. featuring vector- 
based graphics instead of the 
earlier raslor-based product for 
easier portability among sys- 
tems. 

Under Version 3.0. work 
created in one environment can 
be used in any other, including 
CGA. EGA, Compaq, and Her- 
cules, said a company represen- 
tative. Graphstation reads and 
writes Lotus 1-2-3 and Sympho- 
ny files, and VGA support will 
be available in the fourth 
quarter of this year, the spokes- 
man added. 

The $595 product runs on an 
IBM XT. AT, or compatible 
with 512K of RAM and a 10- 
megabyte hard disk drive. 

The company also is adapt- 



ing Graphstation for the AT&T 
Targa 16 videographics board 
under an OEM agreement with 
AT&T Graphics Software Labs. 
It has decision analysis and 
business presentation graphic 
images that can be generated on 
a digital film recorder or 
Postscript device to create 
35mm slides, transparencies, or 
draft copies. That version is 
scheduled for release in early 
October, marketed as Image- 
station exclusively by AT&T 
Graphics Software Labs. 

Software Clearing House 
Inc., 771 Neeb Road. Cincin- 
nati, OH 45238: (513) 451- 
6742. 

AT&T Graphics Software 
Labs. 10291 N. Meridian. Suite 
275. Indianapolis. IN 46290: 
(317)844-4364. 



mands. and other uncommon 
constructs. 

Users such as Jerry Horton. 
microcomputer specialist at 
Shepard's, a leading legal book 
and software company in Colo- 
rado Springs, Colorado, use 
Skylights for both the products 
they develop for sale and in- 
housc efforts. 

"What we liked about this 
package was you don't have to 
program any of the windows: 
with the mouse. I just paint it." 
Horton said. Skylights takes 
only 1 5 to 20 minutes to build a 
screen, instead of the usual one 
or two hours, he added. 

Skylights supports both 
graphics- and text-based pro- 
grams, and Ergosyst says it will 
support development under Mi- 
crosoft Windows and the Pre- 
sentation Manager in OS/2 
Extended Edition. The program 
already supports the PS/2 VGA 
systems. 

Also included are utilities to 
import other programs' images, 
a demonstration program facili- 
ty, and a report generator. 

Sky lights is designed for use 
by C programmers, with bind- 
ings for common C compilers, 
but company president John 
Burch said Ergosyst will pro- 
duce bindings for other lan- 
guages. 

The text-only version of Sky- 
lights costs $295, and the graph- 
ics version costs $750. A de- 
monstration disk costs $ 1 0. 

Ergosyst Associates Inc.. 910 
Massachusetts St.. #602, Law- 
rence, KS 66044: (913) 842- 
73.^4. 



By Scott Mace 

Damaged Dbase files arc rising. 
I.a/aruslike. out of database 
limbo with the help of two new 
file repair programs. 

The utilities automate pre- 
viously lime-consuming tech- 
niques, and. for the first time, 
publishers say they can recon- 
struct "capped" Dbase files — if 
users realize their error immedi- 
ately. 

Comtech Publishing Ltd.'s 
Dsahagc uses pattern recogni- 
tion to strike a damaged partial 
record and eliminate displace- 
ment of data w ithin records. 

Dsiilvage «'as created by pop- 
ular demand after publication of 
a book. Siil\(if;it)i; Diimui^cd 
Dh(i\c Files, which contained 
procedures and printed Basic 
programs that analyze and 
recover damaged files. (Sec 
■"New Recovery Methods Help 
Ensure Dbase Data." December 
22. 1986.) 

Paul W. Hciser. president of 
the Pittsford. New York-based 
Comtech and author of that 
book, said he automated his 
procedures at readers' request. 

The $99.95 Dsalvage will 
recover almost all the data in 
each category of common dam- 
age defined in Heisers book, 
including files with non-ASCII 
chractcrs. files with unwanted 
cnd-of-filc markers in the mid- 
dle, files with partially overwrit- 
ten or destroyed file headers, 
files erased using Dbase's "zap" 
command, and files that have 
abandoned clusters somewhere 



Programmable 
Calculator Is 
RAM-Resident 



A 40-function programmable 
calculator is being released as a 
R.AM-rcsidcnt utility from 
Chipsoft Inc. 

The $49.95 program, lally 
Ho. provides an on-screen 16- 
digit calculator that handles 
financial and statistical func- 
tions, generates random 
numbers, and stores numbers, 
according to the developer. 

Calculator totals can be im- 
ported to a spreadsheet or other 
applications, a Chipsoft spokes- 
man said. Built-in sample pro- 
grams include depreciation, ren- 
tal property evaluation assess- 
ment, and linear regression 
analysis. 

Tally 1 lo also runs as a stand- 
alone program and can print all 
functions. It uses 70K of RAM 
and runs on IBM PC-compati- 
ble systems. 

Chipsoft Inc.. 5045 
Shoreham Place, Suite 100. San 
Diego. CA 92122: (619) 45.3- 
8722, 

— I'l'jigy " (III 



in the file. 

Dsalvage has a header editor, 
record editor, and a "byte 
stream" editor to convert Dbase 
III files to Dbase II: and a query- 
by -example utility for searching 
records. 

Hiico Software's Quickfix-2. 
which sells for $29.95. requires 
use of Norton Utilities to unzap 
files and requires users lo man- 
ually align displaced data within 
records. But like Dsalvage. it 
can replace corrupted headers. 
remo\e unwanted end-of-l'ile 
markers, and correlate the 
Dbase file's record counter with 
the actual number of records, 
according to author Lee Hillard. 

Comtech Publishing. Ltd.. 
P.O. Box 456. Pittsford. NY 
14534; (716) 586-3365. 

HiIco Software. 1 1266 Bar- 
nctt Vallev Road. Sebastopol. 
CA 95472:'(707) 829-501 1. 



DRI Updates 
2 Concurrent 
DOS Systems 

By Jeff Angus 

Two updates of operating sys- 
tems from Digital Research Inc., 
Concurrent DOS XM and Con- 
current DOS 386. were released 
iast week. 

Concurrent DOS XM 5.2 
works with EEMS memory on 
8086/8 and 80286 machines, 
supported by more than 700 
multiuser and multitasking ap- 
plications written to the operat- 
ing system. The company said 
the system supports EF.MS- and 
LIM EMS-aware applications 
and maintains a "high degree" 
of compatibility w ith [X)S soft- 
ware. The new version adds 
support for 16-color EGA and 
W keyboards and up to four 
partitions on a hard disk. DRI 
said. 

Concurrent DOS 386 I.I 
works on Compaq 386 and fully 
compatible systems, using the 
processor's real mode to run a 
multitasking and multiuser en- 
vironment. The company said 
the system can run up to four 
programs at a time, and a 
system can support up to ten 
users. The new \ersion adds 
more DOS compatibilitv. 

Concurrent DOS ,XM 5.2 
costs $295 for a three-user 
system and $395 for a six-user 
system. Concurrent IXIS 386 
costs $395 for a three-user 
system and $495 for a lO-user 
system. Owners of XM. Version 
5.0 or 386. Version 1.0 may 
receive a free upgrade by 
contacting the company. 

Digital Research Inc.. Box 
DRI. Monierev. CA 93942: 
(408) 649-3896. 



INFO 
WORLD 



Hardware 



25 

SEPHMBIRll, I9S7 



News 



Firm Offers Won Under 
Chassis at Spe<ial Prices 

Connect CompulerCo. Inc. 
isolTeringits Won Under 
expansion chassis for the 
Toshiba T3 100 bundled at 
special prices witheithera 
Standard Microsystems 
Corp. Arcnct. 3Com 
Ethernet. orCXl 3270emu- 
lation board. 

Thc$349WonUnderat- 
taches to the bottom of a 
T3 1 00 and perm its a PC ex- 
pansion card to be used with 
the laptop. With an Arcnet 
expansion card, it costs 
$629: with Ethernet. $779: 
and with a mainframe emu- 
lation card. $1,195. the com- 
pany said. 

Connect ComputerCo. 
Inc., 9855 W. 78th St.. Suite 
220. Eden Prairie, MN 
55344; (6 12)944-018 1. 

RSI Offers Upgrade K'rt 
For Toshiba Portables 

A dealer-installable upgrade 
kit that lets users of existing 
Toshiba T3 100 portables 
add a math coprocessorto 
their systems has been an- 
nounced by R. Services Inc. 

The u pgrade includes an 
8-MHz 80287 coprocessor 
on a piggyback board and is 
an enhancement of the com- 
pany's existing upgrade. 

The $599 upgrade, which 
will be available October I , 
does not require system 
board modification and may 
be installed by any autho- 
rized Toshiba ser\ ice center. 

RSI. l403N.Batavia, 
No. 1 15. Orange. CA 92667: 
(714)532-5220. 

Fastbock Update Speeds 
Hard Disic Backup Rate 

A new version of Fastback 
that w ill perform hard disk 
back u ps t h ree t i mes faste r 
than the current version 
while using less than half as 
many disks iscurrently un- 
derdevelopment. 

The special version, de- 
signed for use on the 
Awesome I/O card, takes ad- 
vantage of the card's data 
compression/expansion 
capabilities. 

CSSL Inc.. which manu- 
factures the Awesome I/O 
card, said a 20-mcgaby tc 
hard disk can be backed up 
in as little as 2'/? minutes, 
filling fewer than five 1.2- 
megabytediskettes. 

The nea*' v«rsion of Fast- 
back will only work on the 
Awesome I/O board and is 
expected to be announced at 
fall Comdex. 

CSSL Inc., 909 Electric 
Ave.. Seal Beach, CA 90740: 
(213)493-2471,(800)654- 
5301. 



PORTABLES 



Makers Warning Users to Drain Nicad Batteries 



By Scott Mace 

Users of certain portable com- 
puters are being warned that 
they must pay attention to how 
they drain and recharge their 
batteries or face possible loss of 
battery performance. 

In particular, nickel-cadmi- 
um batteries, or nicads. used in 
portables can lose hours off their 
operating cycles if users do not 
drain them fully before re- 
charging, according to several 
portable manufacturers. 

According to manuals for 
Zenith Data Systems' new Z- 
183 laptop, users who leave the 
computer continuously plugged 
into its AC battery charger or 
only discharge for a few hours, 
instead of the full "deep cycle" 
discharge, can reduce the perfor- 
mance of the battery to as little 
as 10 minutes. Normally, the Z- 
1 83 can run for up to five hours. 
Zenith said other portables that 
use nicads are afflicted by the 
same svndrome. 



Further, this battery perfor- 
mance reduction is normally 
irreversable, according to Kevin 
Mankin. product development 
manager for computer systems 
at Zenith, Some techniques exist 
for running high voltage 
through depleted ni- 
cads to rejuvenate 
them, but those are 
procedures best per- 
formed by repair 
shops. Mankin said. 

In the meantime, 
a debate is growing 
over whether lead- 
acid batteries may 
be superior to 
nicads. 

Hewlett-Packard and Kay- 
pro, among others, use lead-acid 
batteries because they allow 
addition of a "gas gauge." telling 
users how much battery charge 
they have left. ".As lead-acid 
batteries drain, they have very 
predictable voltage fall-off," 




The All Chargecord plugs into a computer's 80286 processor socket 
and lets programs address up to 16 megabytes of non-paged 
memory. The card requires only extended memory. 

Card Addresses 1 6MB 
Of Non-Paged Memory 



By Mark Brownstein 

An add-in card for 80286-bascd 
computers allows programs to 
address up to 16 megabytes of 
non-paged memory, according 
to All Computers, the board's 
developer. 

The All Chargecard plugs 
into the computer's 80286 pro- 
cessor socket and manages sys- 
tem memory to allow up to 16 
megabytes of contiguous RAM 
to be addressed, said Mers Kutt, 
president of All Computers. 

This method is different from 
some forms of expanded memo- 
ry, which only allow a user to 
run programs under 640K in- 
side of a memory window. 

The card requires only ex- 
tended memory, rather than 
expanded memory and, accord- 



ing to All Computer, is faster 
than extended memory. Memo- 
ry is broken into 960K parti- 
tions, with larger programs 
running over into expanded 
memory. The board supports 
EMS and EEMS. the expanded 
and enhanced expanded memo- 
r>' specifications. 

The All Chargecard will also 
work in 80286-based machines 
that are soldered in rather than 
socketed. Previously available 
in Canada, the add-in card has 
just begun shipping in the Unit- 
ed States. It has a suggested list 
price of $399. 

All Computers Inc.. 21 St. 
Clair Ave. E.. Suite 203. 
Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 
M4T IL9: (416)960-0111. 



said Lew Barton, product sup- 
port engineer at HP's Portable 
Computer Division of Corvallis, 
Oregon. 

Nicads. by contrast, exhibit a 
constant voltage reading until 
only minutes of charge is left. 

"All you can do on a 
nicad battery-type 
system is provide a 
low-battery indica- 
tor that's going to 
give you five to 10 
minutes of notice," 
said Matthew Lund- 
berg, marketing 
manager for hard- 
ware products at 
Grid System Corp.. 
in Fremont. California. 

Like Zenith. Grid uses a 
rechargeable nicad battery . Grid 
rejected lead-acid batteries be- 
cause they can only be re- 
charged 200 to iOO times before 
the maximum full charge time 
begins to fall off, as opposed to 




800 to 1.000 limes for nicads. 
I.undbcrgsaid. 

But Kaypro. makers of the 
Kaypro 2000 Plus, said its new 
lead-acid battery will last 500 
charges before the charge time 
begins to erode. ".Mso. replacing 
nicads costs more money in the 
long run." said product spe- 
cialist Karen Mock. 

HP's Barton said the compa- 
ny has added calcium to its lead- 
acid battery to prolong its 
capability to run for the 
maximum length of time. 

"Batteries are a \er\ large 
gray area." Barton said. "People 
try to draw very sharp lines. So 
much dep)ends on how the 
battery is treated." 

Grid's Lundberg also dis- 
putes Zenith's claim that nicad 
battery aging is irreversable by 
normal means. By fully dis- 
charging and recharging the 
nicad, its charge time can be re- 
extended. Lundberg said. 



HP Rugged Writer Built 
For Heavy Office Use 



By Eric Lach 

VANCOUVER, BRITISH CO- 
LUMBIA — Hewlett-Packard 
Co. announced last week its first 
24-pin dot-matrix printer, aim- 
ing it at users who need a fast, 
reliable, and versatile printer for 
general business applications. 

Called the Rugged Writer 
480, the $1,695 machine prints 
at sfKcds of up to 480 cps in 
draft mode and 240 cps in letter- 
quality mode, said Craig Dan- 
iels, HP product manager. The 
product is now available. 

Designed to withstand heavy, 
continuous use in an office 
environment, the printer has a 
20,000-hour meantime between 
failures and an unlimited duty 
cycle, Daniels said. 

The printer can produce 
spreadsheets, reports, forms of 
up to four parts, letters, and 
other business documents, as 
well as graphics with 180-by- 



360-dpi resolution, Daniels said. 

In addition, three paper paths 
are selectable from the printer's 
front panel to accommodate 
hand-fed sheets, adjustable-trac- 
tor friction feeding, and optional 
cut-sheet feeding. Daniels said. 

Users can switch the printer 
between modes for HP's Printer 
Command Language (PCL) or 
an Epson LQ 1000 emulation. 
Daniels said. Also provided is a 
2K buffer, with an additional 
I6K buffer available with an 
accessory cartridge that offers 
four more character sets. 

The printer comes with a 
choice of either RS-232C serial 
and Centronics parallel inter- 
faces or RS-232C and HP-IB 1/ 
O interfaces. 

Inquiries Manager. Hewlett- 
Packard Co., 1820 Emharcade- 
ro Road, Palo Alto. CA 94303: 
(800) 367-4772. 




The Hewlett-Packard Rugged Writer dot-matrix printer produces high- 
speed output at 480 cps in droit mode and 240 cps in letter-quality 
mode. It has a meantime between failures of 20,000 hours. 



26 

SEPnMIER21, 1987 



Hardware 



INFO 
WORLD 




The Microline }82 Plus printer runs at 180 cps in high-speed draft 
mode, 1 20 cps in utility mode, and 30 cps in near letter-quality mode. 



CMOS Chip Should Pave 
Way for New Laptops 

By Mark Stephens 



Okidata Printer 
Is 50% Faster 
Than Precursor 

Okidata recently added the 
Microline 182 Plus to its series 
of nine-pin dot-matrix printers. 
The 1 82 Plus is 50 percent faster 
than its sister printer, the Micro- 
line 1 82. the company said. 

The new printer runs at 
speeds of 180 characters per 
second in high-speed draft 
mode. 120 cps in utility mode, 
and 30 cps in near letter-quality 
mode. 

The 9.9-pound bidirectional 
printer is designed for low-end 
applications in the home or 
office and is available with a 
parallel or serial interface with 
IBM or Microline emulation. 

The Microline 182 Plus of- 
fers users a variety of print style 
options and can produce high- 
density, bit-image graphics. The 
printer's front-panel display 



By Mark Brownstein 

A pair of streaming tape backup 
products that allow a user to 
find any file on a tape within 
two minutes has been an- 
nounced by Scientific Micro 
Systems Inc. In addition, the 
company announced a single- 
user backup product. 

The products, marketed un- 
der the Identica brand name, 
include 60-megabyte. 120-me- 
gabyte. and 40-megabyte 
streaming drives. The 60- and 
120-megabyte drives are ship- 
ped with a software product 
called Direct Tape Access. DTA 
allows the user to rapidly locate 
any desired file on the streaming 
tape, the company said. 

Using DTA. a directory of all 
files is stored at the front of the 
tape. A desired file can be 
selected, and the tape rapidly 
advances to the beginning of the 
selected file. Typical tape units 
without DTA can take up to a 
minute per megabyte to locate a 
desired file on a tape, according 
to Paul Gulati. director of mar- 
keting at Identica: Thus, to find 
a file on a 60-megabyte tape 
without DTA could take up to 
an hour. Gulati said. If a tape's 
directory is damaged, the tape 
can be searched sequentially for 
a selected file. 

DTA is available only on the 
company's 60-megabyte and 




Identica' s tape backup wares. 



buttons allow users to select 
print modes and choose a pitch 
of 10. 12. or 17 characters per 
inch, Okidata said. 

The printer is available im- 
mediately from dealers and dis- 
tributors and is priced at $3 1 9. 

In addition, the company 



125-mcgabytc streaming back- 
up systems. Those devices and 
the 40-megabyte subsystem are 
all compatible with IBM's 6157 
tape backup format. 

Ontrack. a software package 
that is said to simplify installa- 
tion of the devices on a Novell 
network, is included with the 
streaming tape subsystem. 

The 60- and 125-megabyte 
drives can be connected to 
either PS/2 or AT bus comput- 
ers. The company sells adapters 
for PS/2 and AT systems. Any 
of the Vdpe drives can connect to 
either of the adapters. 

The 60-megabvte internal 
drive sells for $1,495. The 125- 



By Mark Brownstein 

An add-on board that boosts 
EGA resolution up to 640 by 
480. while retaining 16 and 64 
color capabilities, is now being 
shipped by Personal Computer 
Graphics Corp. 

The Photon Maxer is a 
daughterboard that connects to 
the feature connector of any 
EGA card which conforms to 
the IBM EG.A specification. 

The add-on product provides 
resolutions of 800 bv 512, 720 
by 540, and 640 by 480, with 
either 1 6 or 64 colors supported, 
depending on the monitor's 
capability, according to Ray 
Nia, manager of research and 
development at Personal Com- 
puter Graphics Corp. 

The resolutions provided 
produce a 4-to-3 aspect ratio, 
which the company said pro- 



announced it will reduce the 
price of its existing Microline 
1 82 printer from $399 to $299. 

Okidata, 532 Fellowship 
Road, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054; 
(800) OKI-DATA, (609) 235- 
2600 in NJ, 

— Reiiec .\tiillu'n:s 



megabyte internal drive has a 
list price of $1,795, External 
versions of the drives sell for an 
additional $200. 

The company is also now 
shipping the Identica 40. a 40- 
megabyte streaming backup sys- 
tem for Micro Channel bus or 
AT bus computers. The drives 
are designed for intemal mount- 
ing in the AT or PS/2 comput- 
ers. The PS/2 version has a 
suggested list price of $699, 
while the AT version sells for 
$599. 

Scientific Micro Systems 
Inc., 339 N. Bernardo Ave.. 
Mountain View. CA 94043; 
(415)964-5700. 



duces a square pixel. The sup- 
plied resolution is distortion free 
on Sony Multiscan or NEC 
Multisync monitors. 

In addition, drivers provided 
by the company or by software 
manufacturers support most 
major CAD packages, including 
.AutoCad, Versacad, Megacad, 
and P-Cad. Xerox's Ventura 
Desktop Publisher and Aldus' 
Pagemaker are also supported, 
as are Microsoft Word and 
Windows. Most major software 
packages arc supported by the 
Photon Maxer as well. 

The Photon Maxer has a 
suggested list price of $159 and 
is now shipping. 

Personal Computer Graphics 
Corp., 5819 Uplander Way, 
Culver Citv, CA 90230: (213) 
216-0055. 



Offering the possibility of 
battery-powered AT-compati- 
blc laptop computers in the near 
future, Harris Corp. has an- 
nounced that it is shipping 
samples of a low-power CMOS 
version of Intel's 80286 micro- 
processor. 

The company's new 80C286 
processor will operate at up to 
16 MHz and consume 60 
percent less power than Intel's 
similar 80286 chip based on 
NMOS technology, according to 
Harris. Up to this point, the 
high power consumption of the 
NMOS chip from Intel has 
made it impractical to manufac- 
ture laptop computers that 
would operate solely on internal 
batteries. 

Harris marketing vice presi- 
dent Mike Graf said that 10- 
MHz and 12.5-MHz samples of 
the new chip were already avail- 
able, with full production slated 
to begin in the fourth quarter of 
this year. The 16-MHz version 
will be available in sample 
quantities during the fourth 
quarter, with full production 
scheduled foreariy in 1988. List 
prices range from $125 each for 
the 1 0-M Hz model to $ 1 70 each 
for the 16-MHz version, both in 
units of 100. 

As it has with its CMOS 
version of two earlier Intel 



PCS Announces 
80286-Based 
Computer Card 

Professional Computer Systems 
has announced an 80286-based 
"computer-on-a-card." 

PCS-2800 has a conventional 
full-slot. I/O board-si/e comput- 
er board and a backplane, which 
provide five 16-bit and three 8- 
bit expansion slots. The combi- 
nation of the computer board 
and backplane lets users assem- 
ble systems inexpensively. The 
computer board runs with IBM 
XT, AT, and compatible power 
supplies and keyboards. 

Users may choose from mod- 
els with hardware- and software- 
switchable speeds of 8 and 10. 
12, 14, 15, or 16 MHz. The 
board comes with a standard 
512K of on-board RAM, with 
optional 640K and I -megabyte 
models available. It also in- 
cludes a socket for an 80287 
math coprocessor. 

PCS-2800 ships in October, 
priced from $395 for 8- and 10- 
MHz models with 512K of 
RAM to $995 for 8 and 16 MHz 
with 1 megabyte of RAM. 

Professional Computer Sys- 
tems. 333 Cobalt Wav, Suite 
105. Sunnyvale. CA 94086: 
(408)732-6041, 

— Rcnt'c Malln'Hs 



chips, the 80C86 and 80C88. 
Harris is transferring to Intel its 
manufacturing technology for 
the 80C286. Intel will become a 
second source for the CMOS 
microprocessor, according to 
Harris. 

Harris Corp.. 1025 W". NASA 
Blvd.. Melbourne. FL 32919: 
(800) 442-7747. 



PC Designs Cuts 
Current Prices, 
Introduces 286s 

By Poula S. Stone 

PC Designs Inc. announced last 
week two new 286-based mod- 
els and reduced prices on its 
current 286 and 386 IBM- 
compatible computers. 

Shipping now, the new GV 
286 Models 801 and 100 each 
can contain either a 1.2 mega- 
byte, 360K drive or a 3'/;-inch, 
720K disk drive. The Model 80 1 
runs at 8 MHz with one wait 
state and has a Maxi-Switch 
"AT" keyboard. The Model 100 
offers 10 MHz with zero wait 
states and has the Maxi-Switch 
Enhanced keyboard. 

The systems also come with I 
megabyte of dynamic RAM. a 
Western Digital Controller, a 
200-watt power supply, one 
parallel and two serial ports, and 
a CMOS clock calendar. 

The Model 801 costs $1,200, 
and the Model 100 is $1,425. A 
40-megabyte Priam hard disk 
drive up>grade is available now 
at $699. reduced from $739. 

The price of the 12-MHz GV 
286 Model 12 dropped from 
$2,435 to $1,950, The price of 
the GV 386 was cut to $3,125 
from $3,950. including a Priam 
40-megabyte hard drive. Both 
offer the same basic features as 
the Model 100. 

All of the 286-based comput- 
ers use the same PC Designs 
motherboard found in the GV 
286 Model 12, the company 
said. Efl'ective October 1. PC 
Designs will activate a toll-free 
number for sales support. That 
number will be (800) 32 BIT PC. 

PC Designs. 2500 N. Hem- 
lock Circle, Broken Arrow, OK 
740 1 2: (9 1 8) 25 1-7057, 




The GV 386 now costs $3. 1 25. 



Tape Backup Speeds File Searches 



Daughterboard Boosts EGA 
Resolution Up to 640 by 480 



iterial 



Hardware and software 
for the business PC. 



D 3V2" format available from us. Specify 

when ordering. 
S! package includes both 5V4" and 3'/:" 

disks. 

fi Vh" formal available from manufacturer 
by request. Call us for details. 

CP— copyprotected, NCP— not copypfolecled 

SOFTWARE 

We only carry the latest versions ol products. 
Version numbers in our ads are current at press 
time. 

Alpha Software ... NCP 

CKeyworks3 0 $59, 

□Advanced Keyworks 3 0 175, 

□Alpha/tliree 1 0 223, 

American Small Business Computers 
□PfoDesign II 2,5 fWCP; 169, 

Application Techniques ... NCP 

Pizazz 2-0 (see what your printer is missing) 35. 

Ashton-Tate ... NCP 

iadBase III Plus 11 call 

WMultiMate Advantage II call 

ATI ... CP 

□How to use DOS. BASIC each 33, 

□How to use Lotus, dBase III Plus each 43, 

Borland International ... NCP 

□Turbo BASIC 1,0 59, 

□Sidekick 1,5 51, 

□Eureka 1,0 99, 

□Turbo C 1,0 59, 

□Reflex 1,1 87. 

QSuperkey 1 1 59. 

□Turbo Pascal 3 0 w/BCD & 8087 support . , 59, 
□Turtx) Prolog 1 , 1 59, 

Breakthrough ... NCP 

Timeline 2,0 259, 

Crosstalk Communications ... NCP 

□Crosstalk XVI 3.61 95. 

□Crosstalk Mk, 4 version 10 129, 

Dac Softmre ... NCP 
□Dac Easy Payroll 2,0 32, 

□ Dac Easy Accounting 2,0 45, 

Digital Research ... NCP 

□Gem Presentation Team 319, 

□Gem Desktop Publistier 1 .0 259, 

Executive Systems ... NCP 

□ XTREE2 0 31. 

5th Generation ... NCP 

□FastbackS 14 89. 

Funk Software ... NCP 

Sideways 3 11 42, 

□ Inword 10 59, 

Generic Software ... NCP 

□Generic CADD 3 0 69, 

Headlands Corporation ... NCP 
□PC-Talk4 55. 

Hilgraeve Software ... NCP 

□ HyperACCESS 3,2 89, 

Individual Software ... NCP 

□Professor Dos ("w/t/i Sma/tgu/c/e; 33, 

□Typing Instructor II 26, 

□Training for Lotus 1 ■2-3 ffof vers 1A&2) 37 

Intersecting Concepts ... NCP 

□Display (blaster 2,04 39, 

□Backup Master 2,2 59, 

Javelin Software ... NCP 
□Javelin 1,1 69, 

LIfetree ... NCP 
nVolkswriter Deluxe Plus 1 0 69 

Micro Education (MECA) ... CP 

□ Managing Your twloney 3-0 . , , 115. 

MiciDPro ... NCP 

□WordStar Professional Release 4 259. 

□WordStar 2000 Plus Release 2 229. 

Microrim ... NCP 
□R:baseSystem V 1 1 419. 

Microsoft ... NCP 

□Learning DOS (lor any version) 33, 

□Windows 1 04 65. 

□Quick Basic 3.0 (w/$20 rebate coupon) ... 59, 
ISMulliplan3,02 119, 



SWbrd3,11 $187. 

BC Compiler 4,0 279, 

Migeni ... NCP 
EAbility Plus 119, 

Monogram ... NCP 
CDollars&Sense3,0 105, 

Nantucket Software ... NCP 

Clipper (Autumn 86) 399. 

Paperback Software ... CP 

□VP-Planner 1 .3 57. 

□VP-Info 1,0 57. 

□VP-Expert 10 57, 

!1VP-Graphics 1,0 57, 

Paul Mace Software ... NCP 
□Mace Utilities 4,1 59, 

Personlcs ... NCP 

BSmartNotes2,0 49, 

KSeeMORE 1 ,0 49 

Quarterdeck ... NCP 

CDESQView2,0 79. 

□Expanded Memory Manager 1.0 39. 

Simon & Schuster ... NCP 

Webster 's New World Writer 1.04 59. 

Typing Tutor IV 33. 

Softlogic Solutions ... NCP 

Software Carousel 2,0 35, 

Disk Optimizer 2 01 35. 

Software Publishing ... NCP 

aPFSFirstPublislnerl.O 59. 

HPFSFirsI Choice 1 ,04 109, 

BPFSiProfessional Write 1.03 119. 

Springboard ... NCP 

NewsrDom*Pro 79 

Symantec ... NCP 

□Q&A2.0 209. 

aO&A Write 10 119, 

Traveling Software ... NCP 
i!lLAP-LINK2 0 79 

True BASIC, Inc. ... NCP 
□True BASIC 2,0 (with tree converter) 57, 

liirnerHall ... NCP 

BSpellin! 1,0 49, 

BS0Z!1,5 49, 

HNote-lt Plus 49, 

H4 Word 1 .0 59. 

WordPerfect Corp. ... NCP 

□WordPerfect 4. 2 199. 

□WordPerfect Library 1.1 59, 

EWordPerfect Executive 1.0 119. 

WordTech Systems ... NCP 

roBXL • ■ 89 

□Quicksilver 1.1 359. 

HARDWARE 

Manufacturer's standard limited warranty 
penod is listed after each company name. 
Some products in their line may have longer 
warranty periods 

AST Research ... 2 years 

All boards listed include a FREE copy ol 

DESQVIEW. 

W£W.'SixPakPlus64k 

(now upgrades to 576k) 179. 

SixPakPremium 2S6k (upgrades to 2 Meg) call 

Advantage Premium 512k 449. 

RAMpaqe! 64k (upgrades to 2 Meg) ... 179. 

RAMpage! 286 512k (to 2 Meg) 389. 

RAtApage boards and Premium Series boards 
support EMS and fully support EEMS. 
Amdek ... 2 years 

Video 410A Amber monochrome monitor 169 

Color 722 ("EG/* compa(;t)/e; 499. 

Curtis ... lifetime 

ACCESSORIES 

Pnnter Cable f9fee(; 17. 

Printer Stand 18. 

Universal System Stand 25, 

Smanmodem-to-lBM Cable fgfieey 17. 

SURCjE SUPPRESSORS 

Diamond (6 outlets) 29. 

Emerald C6 ouHets, 6 ft cofd^ 36, 

Ruby (6 outlets: EMI/RFI littered: 6 It cord) 55, 



DCA ... 1 year 

\ma 2 (3270 emulation board) $729, 

Epson ... 1 year 

We are an authorized Epson service cenfef 

EX-800 printer ("80 CO/, 300cps) 399, 

EX-1000 primer (136col. 9-pin. 300cps). 489, 
FX-86e printer (80 col . 9-pin. 200 cps) 309, 
FX-286eprinterff36co/,, 9-pn 200cps;. . 449. 
LX-800 printer f80 CO/,, 9-pin. rao cps) , 189 
LQ-850 printer (80 CO/ , 24-p)n. 180 cps) , 495 
LQ- 1050 printer (136 col . 24-pin. 180 cps) 659 
Everex ... 1 year 

Evercom II 1200 Baud Internal modem , , 99 
Evercom II 2400 Baud Internal modem , , . 199 
Sth Generation ... 6iTionttis 

Logical Connection 256k 319 

Hayes ... 2 years 

Smartmodem 1200 299, 

Smartmodem 120OB (w/Smartcom 11) ... . 299, 

Smartmodem 240O 449. 

Smartmodem 2400B(w/Sf7iartcom //J , , , , 449. 

Smartcom // 2 1 (software) 89. 

Hercules ... 2 years 

Hercules Incolor Card (w/RAMfont) 329. 

Hercules Graphics Card Plus 189, 

Intel ... 5 years 

Above Board 286 512k 349, 

Above Board PS/286 512k S/P 379. 

Inboard 386/AT (req. inst.kit) 1199. 

Intioard Installation Kit 139. 

B087 (for IBM-PCS, XT) 114. 

80287 (for IBM-PC AT & XT 286) 195. 

80287-8 (for 8 MHz AT compatibles) 249. 

80387 (16 MHz) 499. 

Kensington Microwai* ... 1 year 

Masterpiece 94, 

Masterpiece Remote 119. 

keytronic ... 90 days 

101 keytx)ard (enhanced /ayou/J 119. 

Microsoft ... 1 year 

PS/2 Mouse 61 (wrf/iS/iowf^rtner; 119. 

Bus Mouse 6. 1 (w/f/i Show /Partner; 119. 

Serial Mouse 6.1 (with Show Panner) . . 129. 
Mach 10 (includes Windows and mouse) . 369. 
Mlgent ... 1 year 

Pocket Modem (ex(,, 1200 bps. w/software) 169. 
Mouse Systems ... lifetime 

PC Mouse vmlh Pop-up Menus 99. 

BusPlus Mouse with Pop-up Menus 109. 

NEC ... 2 years 

Multisync monitor (EGA compatible) 547. 

GB-1 Adapter (supports 640 x 480 res. J , . 319. 
NSI Logic ... 3 years 

Smart EGA Plus (640 X 480 W3/t res j , , , 299, 
OMdata ... 1 year 

Laserline 6 (reo Persona/ify Modu/eJ call 

Personality Module 159, 

Toner Cartridge 23, 

Orchid Technologies ... 2 yean 

Tiny Turbo 286 379, 

PC Turbo 286e-10w/1 Meg 729, 

Jet 386 869, 

RAMquest 2 Meg (for PS/2 models 50^0) 699, 

Princeton Graphics ... 1 year 

MAX- t2E Amber monochrome monitor, , 149, 

HX-12E (EGA compaf/bte; 499. 

Quadram ... 2 years 

Prosync (supports 640x480 & 752x410 res.) 329. 

Microfazer II Printer buffer 64k 249, 

Toshiba ... 1 year 

P321 SL printer (80 co/umn, 276 cps; 529, 

P351 -2 S/P printer (136 CO/, 288 cpsj 939, 

Tseng Labs ... 1 year 

EVA 480 (supports 640x480 reso/uton; , , 319, 

Video 7 ... 2 years 

VEGA Deluxe (/ia//-card; 319. 

DRIVES 
IOMEGA ... lyear 

Bernoulli Box 20 Meg W/PC2 card 1599. 

10 Meg cartridge 57. 

Bernoulli Box 40 Meg w/PC2 card 1849. 

20 Meg cartndge 79. 



Miniscrlbe Corp. ... t year 

ScnbeCard30Meg(68ms) $479 

Mountain Computer ... lyear 

40 Meg lnternalTapeBackup(/4rorX0 ,. 379. 

DriveCard 20 Meg (80 ms; 479, 

DnveCard 30 Meg (78 ms) 569. 

DriveCard 50 Meg (54 ms; 699, 

Seagate ... 1 year 

FREEPCTV^ Hard Dri\ie Installation Tape with 
the purchase of either ol the lotlowing Seagate 
drives for the IBM PC Specify Beta or VHS. 
20 Meg Internal Hard Drive (w/Western Digital 

controller and cables. 65 ms) 299 

30 Meg Internal Hard Dnve (w/Adaplec RLL 

controller and cables. 65 ms) 339. 

TEAC ... lyear 

PC, XT 360k Drive (5 '/< ". FD-55BV) , , 109 
Toshiba ... 1 year 

PC, XT360kDrive(5'/i"/ia//-/ierg/i!; .. 109 

AT360kDrive(5'/.i"/)a//-ne/gn/; 117. 

PC. XT AT 720k 3'h" Drive ND-354-A. . . . 129, 

MEMORY 

64k Upgrade Set ()50 ns, sef of 9^ call 

256k Upgrade Set (150 ns,sefo/9J call 

DISKS 

All disks have a lifetime warranly 
DS/OD Disks for the PC & XT (40 TPI), 

Fuji MD2D (10 disks per box) 12. 

Vert)atim Datalife(/Odis/<sperbox; 15. 

Maxell MD-2 (10 dis/is per box; 15. 

DS/HIgh Density Disks for the AT (96 TPI). 

Fuji ()0 dis/<s per boxj 24. 

Veibatm (10 disks per box) 27, 

Maxell (;Odis/<s per boxj 27, 

3V2" High-Density Disks (1 ,44 Meg). 

Maxell (10 disks per- boxj 59. 

Fuf (10 disks per box) 55. 

CompuServe Information Service 

(subscfiption. manual, credit, publications) 24. 

OUR POLICY 

e WsacceplVISA andlvlASTERCARD 

• No surcharge added lor credit card orders 

• >tiur card s not charged until we ship 

• If we musi ship a partial order we riev«f cha/ge freighi 
on the shipment/s) thai complete the order 

• No sales lax 

• AS U S shipnients insured, no additional charge. 

• APO/FPO orders usually shipped 1 si Class t^ai 

• Aitow 1 week for personal and company checks to 
dear 

• UPS Nexl-Oay-Air avajlable 

• COD max SttXX) Cash or cenifieo check 

• 120 day limrted warranty on all products * 

• To order, call us anytime Monda/ thru Friday 9 00 to 
9 00, or Saturday 9:00 to 5 30, "fciu can call our 
business offices at 603/446-3383 Ijlonday through 
Friday 9 00 to 5:30 

SHIPPING 

Note: Accounts on net terms pay actuaJ shipptng 
Continental US: 

• For mondors, printers, and hard dnves, pay actual UPS 
ground charges, CafI lor UPS 2nd-Dav & Next Day-Air. 

• For aJI other items, add $2 per order lo cover UPS 
Shipping For such items, we automalicalty use URS 
2nd-Day Air at no extra charge you are more than 2 
dayslrom us by UPS ground 

HmvbH: 

• For monitors, printers, and hard drives, actual UPS 
Blue charge wiN be added For all other items, add S2 
per order 

Aluke and outakto Continental US: 

• Call 603/446-3383 (or information 

l'800/243'8088 



PC Connection 

6 Mill Street 
Marlow, NH 03456 
603/446-3383 



900R 



For the IBM-PC (XT & AT) exclusively. 



■ DEFECTrsrt SOrrvWfiE REPL/CED IMMEDIATELY DEFECirvE KAflOWWE REPLACED OR REPAIRED AT OUR DSCRETION SOME ITEMS HXWt MAIWJF/CTURERS VWVIANTIES UP TO RVE YEARS ALL tlEMS SUBJECT TD AWLAflLITY PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTCf 





This is 
just too 
easy! 



It's rare that we 
advertise a 
product by 

^ % ^i^^ \ \ higtiligtiting 

l\ ^^^^ \ \ its main fault. 

Yy^^ \^^gf^ But, as the 

^^J^^l^ '^^ew York Times said, 

Graphinthe-Box 
from New England 
Software is "so 
easy to use that it may 
result in far more charts than are 
really needed." Well, they can be stuffy 
about it if they want, but let's face it: there's nothing more fun than instant 
graphification. With this memoiy resident graphing package you can 
capture numbers from your screen and transform them into any one of 
1 1 different types of graphs for either analytic or presentation purposes. 
In seconds. It works with virtually any program that puts numbers on your 
saee/1-spreadsheets, databases, word processors, etc.-and it's 
compatible with most popular RAIVl resident programs and with virtually 
all applications. It also works with all leading graphics boards, including 
EGA, and over 100 printers, including the HP Laserjet. 

New England Software CCI 

Graph-in-the-Box 1.3 (not copy protected, S'fo" available) . . 



True BASIC, True Power. 




.|,,|„i(,.kiii"."' 

rhi.iiM"!-'-'*""' 



Version 2.0 of True BASIC, the granddaddy 
of BASIC programs, continues its stellar 
tradition of versatility and power It sup 
ports large arrays, matrix algebra, and all 
tfie graptiic standards (including EGA, 
CGA. and Hercules). And, it's portable to 
non MS-DOS machines. To make the deal 
sweeter, when you buy it you'll get (say 
the magic word: "FREE!') their Converter 
program (a $50 retail value) which lets 
you convert any BASICA code you have 
lying around into True BASIC code. 

True BASIC, Inc. (not copy protected) 
True BASIC 2.0 (3</2'3valable) ^ffV 
w/FREE True BASIC Converter / 



EGA Wizard. 

V/ithout Display 
Master. EGA isn't all 
it could be cranked 
up to be. Customize 
colors, fonts, and the 
number ol lines and 
I columns. Special 
drivers included for 
1-2-3, Symphony 
dBase, WordPertecl and others. 

Intersecting Concepts (not copy protected) 
Display Master 2.04 (for EGA only; ^9 n 
3t" available) ^iy 




PC'Talk4. 

Ttitougli Bie wonders ot 
shareware, over 500.000 
users have teen hapfiily 
using PC i&* as their 
communications software 
lor years. Now. the new 
version. PC-W is avail 
able tor sale. It's a low 
cost alternative to more 
complex and expensive 
'programs. With Us own mano 
, language and support lor directories, it's a good deal 

Headlands Coiporatlon 
PC-Ta<M (not copy protected, 
3',t' availat>le) 




$55 



Tip Sheet. 






Name: Jeff SlougMon. Sales 

Claim to tame: Used to have a marked 
proclivity far climtnng up frozen waterfalls. 

If your job is to create eye-tiending graphs 
and charts for your company you may want 
an expensive turbo-charged program that will 
make your presentations look like Hollywood 
productions. (Well, maybe Burbank) But if. 
instead, you need graphs as a practical day- 
to-day business tool to help you and your 
colleagues grasp and analyze data quickly, a 
simple easy to use program might make more 
sense. We like Graph in lhe Box (see above) tor 
just that reason. (Memory resident, it can cap- 
lure numbers from any screen, anytime and 
turn them into a graph or chart. Wbeh means 
you only have to learn one set of commands to 
make graphs with any program you use. Now 
that's something that just about any business 
user cook! use at his or her fingertips. 



Publishing for people. 



Get Smart. 




PFS:Fiisl PuNisher is a solid desktop publisher designed 
for people without any graphic arts or typographic experi- 
ence. It has everything you need to print professional- 
looking documents (newsletters, announcements, etc.) 
v»ithout the complexities of so-called power packages, 
>t)u can import data via ASCII files from virtually any word 
processor, and picture files from most of the popular paint 
programs. Plus, it's fully compatible with many dot matrix 
and laser printers (including all PostScript compatibles). 
Software Publlsliing (not copy-protected) a ^ a 
PFS:Firsl Publisher 1.0 (S'fe" available) 



Dots Right! 
Dots Fast! 




If you do a lot ol wide body 
printing (don't get us wrong-we 
mean spreadsheets, etc.), then you need a fast, 
reliable printer than can churn out data, and switch over to 
near letter quality for the occasional commentary, treatise, or discourse. 
Epson's FX-286e is made for the job. Rated up to 240 cps in draft mode and 48 cps in 
NLQ, it also offers a variety of lypestyles including italic, proportional, condensed, and 
double high characters. ^ a At^ 

Epson FX 286e ... 1 year $449 




As we all know, there are things that occur 
to us in the long late hours of computing 
that appear totally senseless in the light of 
day That's why we all need SmartNoles 2. 
This is a new version ot the famous pro- 
gram that lets you hide little reminders on 
such pressing matters as why you really 
thought you'd have a 300% increase in 
sales next quarter. It's perfect for explain- 
ing those mysterious cells in 1-2-3. and is 
compatible with virtually all your other 
programs as well. The new version features | 
a simplified user intertace. Move from 
program to program, attaching notes, and 
they'll all be there when you need them. 

Personics (not copy-protected) £ ^ A I 

SnvartNoteS 2.0 (3'f7' available) 



6 yUlL STREET. .Vt.MllOH . .SH 03451) HOC :43.808S or (i03 440-3383 



COPVmi-.irrnC CONNECTION INC, IVCl)^4NEC■T10NANI)r>CTVARER£C.ISTEREnTKAnE.MARK■^0Flx:C()NNEC-^0N.INC.I^MRl-<>lVNI^ 



Whip those words in line! 





If you're dealing with extensive 
exegeses, protracted proposals, 
Of just write a lot, Microsoft IVorrf 
is the word processor for you. 
First, it's got a dandy built-in outline 
processor, wfiicti will keep your top- 
tieavy tome from getting discom- 
bobulated wtien you start tossing 
chapters and sections around. 
Second, it works hand in hand, 
finger in finger, with a tyiicrosoft 
Mouse, one of the fastest ways known to man (or woman) to move sections 
of text hither and yon. And if you buy Word 3.11 now and register, Microsoft 
will send you the new Word 4.0 FREE. 



Microsoft (not copy-protected) 
Word 3.11 (3%" available) ... 



$187 



EGA Drive Time. 

EGA. CGA. VGA. PC's. XT's. AT's. Make your head swim? Wfell 
it won't phase NSI Logic's Smart EGA Plus. Tfiis graptiics board 
can handle just about any technology you throw at it, and 
deliver ultimate screen displays on every single one. It's not 
only compatible with all the hardware listed above, it can also 
take on any software that supports any of those standards. 
Plus, it has special drivers for many popular programs so you 
can reap the maximum video benefits they offer. 

NSI Logic ... 3 years 
Smart EGA Plus 



$299 




Free Borland! 

(With purchase) 

We don't say "Free 
I Borland" because the 
infamous Kahn is being 
held hostage by some 
runamok micro, but be- 
cause he and his friends 
are offering a free copy of 
Turbo Pascal, Superkey, 
Sidekick, or Turbo 
Ughtning-[o anyone 
who buys Turbo BASIC or 
Eureka between August 1 
and September 30. 
Yet another compelling 
reason to get your programmable claws in Turbo BASIC— [he 
low-cost speed-crazed BASIC compiler-the language that 
InfoWorld called "a simple yet blindingly fast recreational utility 
language." Or to free yourself from algebraic and other formulaic 
gymnastics forever with Eureka, the masterful equation solver 

Note: A coupon will be enclosed entitling you to a FREE copy of Borland's Turbo 
Pascal. Sidekick, Superkey, or Turbo Lightning, with the purchase of either Turbo 
BASIC or Eureka 

Borland Turbo BASIC 1.0 (not copy-protected, S'fo" available). . . $59 
Borland Eureka 1.0 (not copy-protected, 3 V2" available) $99 




1'2'3 Scninch! — 



! 



Double, triple, or quad- 
I ' fuple ttie numtier ol 

* Lolus 1-2-3 cells on 

screen with SeeMOflf. 
It aiso lets you select 
background and tore- 
giound colors, normal 
Of reverse video, and 
several screen layout 
options. Instant saeen 
prints too! Now you can gel that whole 12 monlh 
lorecasl on screen. Compatitile with CGA. EGA, 
VGA, and Hercules. 

Personlcs (not copy-protected) i 
SeeMORE 1.0(3'/?" available), S 



Package Deal. 

Everything you need lor serious desktop presen 
, ,,,, -I ^—tations. The 65M series from Digital Research, 

A desk and applications organizer, GEM Desktop; 

. k - ' a text chart maker GEM WordChart: a super 

potent drawing program. GEM Draw Plus: and a 
professional graphing package, GEM Graph. The 
complete graphics solution for GEIvl Desktop 
Publisher or Ventura Publisher 
Digital Research (not copy protected) 

G [ M Desktop 2. 1 (3* " available) %is 

M WordChart 1.0 (3'fe" available) $»» 

GEM Draw Plus 2.0(3%" available) $184 

GEM Graph 1.0 (3*" available) $1S» 

GEM Presentation Team All lour pmgrams for $319! 




Drives you can trust. 




guts Into electronic never-never land. Need a hard 
drive? You can trust Seagate lor the product, and us 
for all the help you need to get it up and running fast 
and easy They're warranted for a full year and come 
with our FREE PCTV® video tape (not for AT) show- 
ing you how to install them, 

(w/Weslem Digital controller and cables, 65 ms) $J99 
(w/Adaptec RLL controller and cables, 65 ms) . . $339 



Ask Your 
Connection. 



Q-.lfl write programs in Turbo 
BASIC, will my Iriends be able to 
run them without their own copy of 
Turbo BASIC? 

A: Someday the streets will be paved with 
gold, the Red Sox will win the Worid 
Series, and there will be no compatibility 
problems anywhere in the wide wide 
worid of computers. Until that time, you'll 
be happy to know that at least it's easy to 
pass your Turbo BASIC programs around. 
Instead of saving the file directly to disk, 
set the COMPILE option to EXECUTABLE 
FILE. Then recompile. This will save the 
program in a stand-alone format that can 
be used on any IBtvl compatible without 
the main Turbo BASIC program (or any 
other library). So it's easy to share your 
strokes of coding genius no matter what 
computer your friends and business 
associates own. 



6 MIU STREET, M,\R1.0tt NH 0.!4S(i KOO 243-8088 ot (>03 446-3383 



"OPYRU ;HT IV K ).NNEm( )N. INC I9S7. IK' CONNICTION AND IXTV ARE REC.lSTERtr) -TRADEMARKS < K IV CONNECTION INC MARUM', Nt I 



30 

SEPTIMBER 21, 1987 



Hardware 



INFO 
WORLD 



Hyundai Debuts Quartet of Products With Own Trade Name 



By Mark Brownstein 

A quartel of computer products for 
corporate users was introduced by 
Hyundai Electronics America Inc. 

The Hyundai products include an AT 
clone, an XT clone, and a diskless 
workstation for connection to networks. 
The products represent Hyundai's entry 
into the computer market under the 
Hyundai brand name. The company has 
discontinued OEM marketing through 
such resellers as Blue Chip Electronics 
Inc.. which had been marketing Hyundai 
computers under the Blue Chip label. 

The Super- 1 6T computer is a PC 
clone built around the 8088-2 CPU. It 
comes standard with 640K of RAM. a 



battery-backed clock/calendar, one serial 
and one parallel port, six expansion slots, 
and a single 360K floppy disk drive. In 
addition, the Super- 1 6T has built into the 
motherboard a floppy disk controller 
that is capable of controlling two floppy 
disk drives. The suggested list price is 
$999. 

In addition, the computer can run at 
4.77 and 8 MHz. GW Basic. MS-DOS 
3.2. and Electric Desk from Alpha 
Software Corp. are included with the 
machine. The Super- 1 6T also comes 
standard with a 12-inch monochrome 
monitor and a graphics card that suf)- 
ports MD.\. MGA, and CO A output 



"Mace Utilities 4.0 
Best Data Recovery 
Were is Gets Better" 



PC Magazine 
March 31, 1987 




And Better! 



VERSION 

4.10 



RECOVERY FEATURES 

DIAGNOSE checks any disk for 

errors. 

REMEDY fixes errors, automatically. 
UnDELETE recovers deleted files easily, 
automatically 

UnFORMAT recovers from an 
accidental format of your hard disk 
even «ihen MACE was not installed. 
e-f Floppy UnFORMAT recovers from 
accidental format of a floppy disk. 

' '■FORMAT-F floppy formatter. Replaces 
DOS FORMAT. Includes 'RESURRECT 
option, to revitalize weary disks. 

ffFORMATH hard disk formatter 
replaces DOS FORMAT Guaranteed 
safe. 

To Order Call 

800-523-0258 

603-488-0224 



Fast UnFRAGMENT quickly reorgan- 
izes segmented files for speedier 
disk performance. 
VCACHE buffers data reads and 
writes In regular, expanded or 
extended memory for dramatic disk 
speedup. 

SORTD Directory sort. 
SQZD Directory path optimizer 
VSCREEN Screen speedup. 
VKETTE Diskette caching tor floppies. 

dbFIX 

Repairs and recovers damaged or 
lost DBase files, automatically 
Advanced periormance at the 
same good price: S99 

Paul Mace 

SOFTWARE 

400 Wllliomson Way. Ashland. OR 97520 



Standards. It is now shipping. 

The Supcr-286C computer is an 
80286-based machine that comes with 
two serial ports and one parallel port. 
640K of RAM. one 1 .2-megabyte floppy 
drive, and an on-board floppy disk 
controller. The computer runs at 8 MHz 
or 10 MHz. Four 16-bit and two 8-bit 
slots are also built into the motherboard. 
The system is shipped with the same 
software as the Super- 16T. The standard 
system includes a 12-inch monochrome 
monitor and an EGA card. The Super- 
286C has a suggested list price of $1,499 
and will begin shipping late this month. 

The company will also be ofTering the 
Supcr-286. a 12-slot unit designed to 
work as a file server. The computer will 



have room for five S'/j-inch storage 
devices and will be available for shipping 
at the end of October. Fmal configura- 
tion of the product has not been 
announced. The suggested list price is 
$1,699. 

A diskless workstation called the PC 
Terminal features a built-in Ethernet 
LAN interface, four expansion slots, a 
monochrome monitor, and an AT-style 
keyboard. The PC Terminal is built 
around an 8088 CPU and comes with 
256K of RAM standard. The PC Termi- 
nal is currently shipping and ■ has a 
suggested list price of $699. 

Hyundai Electronics America. 4401 
Great America Parkwav. .Ird Floor. 
Santa Clara. CA 95054: (408) 986-9800. 



Personal Computer Products Adds 
$2,495 Printer to Its Loserimage Line 

A $2,495 laser printer designed for home 
use or office workstation environments 
has been introduced by Personal Com- 
puter Products Inc. 

The Laserimage 1000. an addition to 
PCPI's Laserimage family of laser print- 
ers, produces a resolution of 300 dots per 
Inch in text and graphics modes and 
prints at a speed of six pages per minute. 
It also includes seven resident and 24 
downloadable fonts. 

The printer is configured with I 
megabyte of standard memory, expanda- 
ble to 2 megabytes, and is powered by a 
Motorola 68000 microprocessor. A $695 
upgrade kit that provides a piggyback 
board with a 68020 CPU and 1 megabyte 
of ROM is also available. 

The Laserimage 1000 is equipped 
with three standard interfaces: an RS-232 
port, a Centronics parallel port, and an 
RS-422 interface. The printer emulates 
the HP Laserjet Plus, HP Laserjet Series 
II, IBM Proprinter, Diablo 630. and 




The laserimage 1000 is designed for 
home and workstation applications. 



Epson FX/80 printers. An optional pop- 
in cartridge also allows the printer to 
emulate the HP 7475A plotter. 

The Laserimage 1000 will be available 
from dealers and distributors on October 
I. the company said. 

Personal Computer Products Inc., 
11590 W. Bernardo Court. Suite 100, 
San Diego, CA 92127; (800) 225-4098. 
(800) 262-0522 in CA. 

— Renee Mdihen s 



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INFO 
WORLD 



Hardware 



31 

SEPTEMBER 21. 1987 



Genicom Unveils 
1020T Dot-Matrix 
tempest' Printer 

By Renee Mathews 

Genicom Corp. has announced the latest 
addition to its family of Tempest dot- 
matri\ printers built to the U.S. govern- 
ment's NACSIM 5100A Tempest stan- 
dards for data security. 

The Model 1020T offers 100-charac- 
ter-per-second (cps) letter-quality and 
200-cps data processing printing speeds. 
It uses an 1 8-wire printhead and provides 
a 400-dot-per-inch resolution. 

The printer features a 136-column- 
wide carriage and a tilt-back clamshell 
design. It allows up to three font 
cartridges to be inserted and on-line at 




The $3. 125 Genicom l020Tprinls at 100 
cps in lelter-quolity mode. 



Meridian, Microsoft 
To Offer CD ROM 
MS-DOS Extension 

By Jeff Angus 

Because sellers of CD ROM hardware 
have not been including the drivers 
needed for their equipment to run with 
MS-DOS systems. Meridian Data Inc. 
and Microsoft Corp. have combined to 
make the necessary systems software 
available to users. 

The Microsoft Extensions product is 
systems software that adds to DOS the 
capability to drive a full 600-megabytc 
CD ROM disk, overcoming the standard 
DOS 32-megabyte limit on disk storage 
devices. Users install E.\tensions through 
a question-and-answcr-format setup pro- 
gram. 

Meridian hopes to support the esti- 
mated 25,000 CD ROM drives that don't 
have Extensions and believes that by 
dealing directly with users, it can address 
a need manufacturers have ignored. 

A Microsoft representative in the CD 
ROM group said that Amdek Corp.'s 
recently released CD ROM drive comes 
with its own software and doesn't require 
purchase of Extensions. He said the 
Amdek unit was the first such hardware 
targeted for end-user purchase. 

Meridian is already established in the 
CD ROM business with CD Publisher, a 
developer's tool for building CD ROM 
applications under the High Sierra 
Group file structure, a proposed standard 
for CD ROM file format. The cost for 
Microsoft Extensions is $50 per unit 
when purchased singly. 

Meridian Data Inc.. 4450 Capitola 
Rd.. #101. Capitola, CA 95010; (408) 
476-5858. 



the same time, the company said. 

The printer also offers bidirectional, 
emphasized, double-strike, expanded, 
bold, compressed, underscored, and pro- 
portional printing. A standard 2K buffer 
is included, with optional 8K and 64K 
buffers also available. 

Additional options include plug-in 
personality cartridges that allow the 
printer to emulate IBM Graphics and 
Color Printers. Epson FX series. Diablo 
630. and Genicom 3000 series printers. A 
color option kit also provides up to 
seven-color printing. 

The Model I020T is available imme- 
diatelv from dealers and distributors and 
will re'tail for $3. 1 25. 

Genicom Corp.. Genicom Drive. 
Wavnesboro. VA. 22980: (800) 437- 
7468. (703) 949-1 170 in VA. 

— Renee Mathews 



Drives Boost Internal Data Storage 
Of PC and Macintosh-Based Systems 



A line of 5'/4-inch external drives that 
supplements the existing internal storage 
capacities of PC- and Macintosh-based 
systems has been released by Century 
Data Inc. 

The Centurion Series is designed for 
storing large blocks of data. It works with 
stand-alone computers or can be config- 
ured for file server applications in LAN 
environments, the company said. 

Centurion Version I includes a 5'/4- 
inch fixed disk drive and a ESDI/AT 10- 
megabit-pcr-second controller and pro- 
vides storage capacities between 87 to 
170 megabytes. Centurion Version II 
includes a choice of one or two 87- to 



1 10-megabylc dri\cs and an ESDI/AT or 
SCSI/AT controller. Version 11 systems 
can be connected through bus-level ESDI 
controllers to a PC AT. or through a SCSI 
controller and bus adapter to an AT. or 
directly to the SCSI port of a Macintosh, 
the company said. 

Version 1 is priced between $l..360 
and $3,170 for 87 to 170 megabytes 
respectivelv. Version II with dual- drives 
lists for $2,530 to $5,870 for the same 
respective storage capacities. 

Century Data Inc.. CAST Division, 
6580 Via Del Oro, San Jose. CA 95 1 19: 
(408) 224-8030. 

— Renee Mathews 



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• Four COM ports. Anchor gives you maximum 
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most modems specify a single port, Anchor 
modems work with COIVI ports 1 , 2, 3 & 4. 



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Anchor reliability means a Five Year Warranty 
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32 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



Hardware 



INFO 
WORLD 



IBM MCA 



Continued From Page 1 

giving lectures and seminars on the 
capabilities of the new architecture. "It's 
like future shock — it's going to be a 
gradual education process." 

Some benefits of the Micro Channel 
— such as requiring smaller add-in 
boards as well as allowing switchless 
installation of those boards — are 
obvious, said Heath. Other features are 
more subtle, such as the lower electro- 
magnetic interference generated by the 
bus and the fact that boards designed for 
the MCA will be more reliable and 
problems easier to diagnose and repair. 

Some capabilities of the new design 
have yet to be exploited, said Heath. For 
example, the MCA can support up to 
eight "master" microprocessor chips — 
chips that directly control access to the 
machine's memory . This could ultimate- 
ly lead to fault-tolerant systems or 
computers that run multiple processors. 

Finally, the bus was intentionally 
designed with plenty of room for grow th: 
a significant number of features have 
been "reserved" for this purpose, and 
Heath says that even IBM cannot predict 
how those resources w ill be used. 

"The MC.\ architecture merely 
shapes the boundaries of what is possi- 
ble." said Heath. "It's the PC industry 
that is going to determine how it is used." 

WHY CHANCE THE DESIGN? Contrary to 
industry speculation. IBM did not delib- 
erately change the bus structure to ensure 
a proprietary PC design. Heath said. 
Instead, work on the MCA began in 
1983, prompted by problems IBM engi- 
neers were having with electromagnetic 
compatibility (EMC) on its original PC 
line. IBM also wanted to respond to 
customer requests for a "switchless" 
setup of add-in boards and the capability 
to use more advanced processors. 

""We could have shoe-homed a 386 
chip into a 286 box without any trouble." 




said Heath. "This would have provided 
users with increased performance and 
would have been a generally OK 
solution." 

.■\t first, the main impetus to change 
the bus design was an FTC requirement 
that manufacturers meet certain EMC 
standards to prevent computers from 
distorting radio and television reception. 
IBM's original PC XT had difficulty 
meeting those standards. 

"With the PC XT. we had to copper- 
plate the chassis to make sure that 
electrical currents returned to the power 
supply." said Heath. "Then, it still wasn't 
good enough, so we had to nickel plate it 

— a very expensive process. We finally 
got it working, but we spent a lot of 
money on it and didn't get any increased 
functionality for our customers." 

So meeting FCC requirements was a 
top priority, said Heath. 

IBM also began working on a new bus 
design because users complained about 
the ditTiculties of installing add-in boards 
due to the plethora of DIP switches on 
those boards. "No one liked the switches 

— it took close to an hour just to set a 



'The complexity of 
the Micro Channel 

is such that it 
makes educating 
the industry a 
difficult job. It's 
like future shock 
— it's going to be 
a gradual 
process.' 



system up," said Heath, 'in addition, 
switches are the No. 1 cause of 'no 
problem found' diagnoses on service calls 
— and someone had to cat those costs, 
either the user or the dealer. So we 
decided that the switches had lo go." 

In addition. IBM needed changes in 
the bus to accommodate advanced 
processors — such as the 32-bit 80386 
CPU — and also wanted to be able to 
perform true multitasking. 

According to fleath. one of the more 
difficult decisions was to change the size 
of the bus — the decision that would 
render existing add-in boards obsolete. 

"What may seem obvious now is the 
result of a lot of soul searching," said 
Heath. "But once we made the decision 
to change the physical format, the door 
was wide open to improve everything." 

PRIORITIES. The next stage for IBM was to 

compile a list of priorities that would 
determine what features actually got 
implemented in the new design: 

[.Safety 

2. Data Integrity 



3. Sy stem Integrity 

4. Reliability 

5. Compatibility 

6. Functionality 

7. Performance 

8. Cost 

Heath acknowledged that to the PC 
industry, the surprising aspect of this list 
is the relatively low priority assigned to 
functionality and performance when 
compared to such things as data and 
system integrity and compatibility. 

"Bsrformance is important, but not as 
important as other things," said Heath, 
who said that IB.M was searching for 
huliiiwi'il performance that would best 
suit its customers. "For example, we put 
a very high priority on data integrity — 
even listing it higher than system integri- 
ty." he said. "The reason? For most 
people, the value of the data stored in a 
computer far exceeds the value of the 
hardware itself." 

1 Icath said that the decision to switch 
to 3' ;-inch floppy disk drive media from 
."^'i-inch formal aptly illustrates the use 
of this prioritized list. 

"First, the 3'/!-inch media is much 
more reliable, which fits item No. 2 on 
the list," said Heath. "Since data integri- 
ty was more important than com- 
patibility, which was more important 
than cost, you can see how we made that 
decision." 

Compatibility also came before per- 
formance and functionality, said Heath, 
who said that if IBM hadn't had to worry 
about compatibility with the existing 
software base, it could have been much 
more innovative and thus increased 
performance in "creative" ways. 

"The compatibility issue meant that 
we didn't have the option of being truly 
creative." said Heath. "Instead, we had 
to get away with being clever." 

PHYSICM UYOUT. The physical layout of 
the MCA as released in the PS/2 Models 
50, 60, and 80 includes three different 
types of physical connections to add-in 
Continued on Poge 35 



Meeting FCC Requirements a Top Priority in Micro Ciiannel's Design 



Of utmost priority when designing the Micro 
Channel Architecture (MCA) for IBM's new PS/2 
line of microcomputers was meeting the Federal 
Communications Commission (FCC) regulations for 
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) — the radioac- 
tive emissions generated by a computer that can 
distort radio and television reception. 

"Meeting FCC requirements was a top priority," 
said Chet Heath. IBM's senior designer of the Micro 
Channel, who said that many of the most important 
design changes from the "classic" PC bus were a direct 
result of EMC issues. 

For purposes of controlling EMC. the FCC has 
created two classifications of computer equipment: 
Class A for "commercial" computers and Class B for 
"home" computers. 

Class B regulations are much more stringent than 
Class A regulations because there is a greater 
likelihood that emissions from home computers 
would interfere with domestic radio or television 
reception, according to the FCC. 

Computers used commercially are less likely to do 
so, simply for the reason that there is less television 
and radio use in industrial parks, office complexes, 
and other business environments. 

"Class B requirements have to be stricter because 
there are so many opportunities for creating interfer- 
ence in a residential environment." said Bob Cutts, 
chief of the authorizjation and evaluation division at 
the FCC's Office of Science and Technology 
Laboratory, in Columbia, Maryland. 

However, although theoretically the stricter Class 
B designation is intended to apply only to computers 



used at home, that is not the way the guidelines are 
effectively enforced by the FCC. 

Instead, all microcomputers — even the PCs 
bought for and used in a business environment — arc 
automatically required to meet the tougher Class B 
standards. The reason for that, according to Cutts, is 
that PCs are small enough and light enough to be 
easily transferred between homes and offices. 

"Unless there is a solid reason that a computer can 
only be used — and 1 mean only — in a 
manufacturing plant or other industrial setting, it is 
considered Class B," said Cutts. 

For example, large mainframe and minicomputers 
kept in air-conditioned rooms obviously couldn't be 
moved from a commercial to a home setting, said 
Cutts. However, desktop PCs could — thus making it 
necessary to ensure that PC emissions don't exceed a 
certain limit. 

At IBM, work on the MCA began in 1983 precisely 
because of problems IBM was having with EMC on its 
original PC line, according to Heath. IBM engineers 
often were required to perform a lot of last-minute 
work on PCs simply because they failed to meet FCC 
standards. 

"We were becoming increasingly aware that EMC 
issues were not being effectively managed," said 
Heath. "Although we never shipped anything that 
didn't meet FCC regulations, a lot of dollars were 
invested in last-minute solutions to EMC problems." 

But this last-minute approach to EMC emissions 
eventually hurt end-users of IBM products, said 
Heath, "EMC issues always seemed to come up at the 
end of a design cycle, and we would end up throw ing a 



lot of money into solving something that didn't bring 
any enhanced functionality to end-users," said Heath. 
"It was sort of a sales tax from Mother Nature." 

According to the FCC's Cutts, PC vendors are 
required to send their machines to the FCC to be 
tested before bringing any products to market. The 
FCC then determines whether each PC model passes 
the Class B requirements. 

"If a machine meets our technical standards, and if 
the vendor's application is in good order, then they get 
an authorization to go ahead and manufacture and 
market that computer." said Cutts. 

Yet at every Comdex show, the FCC makes a point 
of swooping onto the exhibit floor, seizing any PCs 
being exhibited without proper FCC authorization. 
Usually, a significant majority of the machines — 
estimated between 60 and 80 percent — have violated 
FCC regulations. (See "FCC Cracks Down on 
Vendors at Show." June 8.) 

"We're aware of a large number of noncompliant 
manufacturers," said Cutts. "It's really not too 
surprising — this is a very competitive industry, and 
prospective vendors want to get their products out the 
door as soon as possible." 

Trade shows are great places to exhibit new PC 
products, said Cutts — but if a vendor wants to show a 
machine that hasn't yet received FCC approval, they 
are required by law to give notice of that fact. 

"And sometimes they don't do that," said Cutts, 

Companies marketing PCs that haven't been 
approved by the FCC can be fined or prohibited from 
selling product, said Cutts, 

— Alice LaPlame 




ar Surroundings... 



: 




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Nuaber 1 on Charts 
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INFO 
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Hardware 



35 

SEPnMBER2l, 1987 



cards. These include: 

1) A 16-hit connector 

2) A 1 6-hit connector v\ illi a special video 
connector 

3) A 32-bil connector 

All connectors are considerably more 
sophisticated than those on the "classic" 
PC bus. said Heath. One example is that 
boards designed specifically for the MCA 
will haw faster input and output for tasks 
such as controlling ports or disk drives 
(see sidebar below). 

In addition, the architecture was 
designed to accommodate surface- 
mount technology and very large scale 
integration (VLSI). Besides being 
cheaper, this means that add-in boards 
designed for the MCA are considerably 
smaller than PC .A 1 boards. 

The smaller size also helps IBM meet 
ergonomic requirements in European 
countries, w hich require the center of the 
monitor be less than approximately lO'A 
inches above the desktop. 

USY INSTUUnON. One of the most 
obvious dill'erences is a feature called 
"Programmable Option Select." which 
means that users won't have to worry 
about setting DIP switches when 
installing add-in hoards. Instead, the 
Micro Channel essentially replaces 
switches on add-in boards and on the 
main system board w ith a set of memory 
registers on each card that contains setup 
information. 

The switchless installation has many 
advantages. It saves installation time and 
makes it easier to install add-in products. 

In addition, boards can be easily and 
automatically reinitialized to prevent 
conflicts, making it easier to put in 
multiple identical boards. .Ml told, with 
an optional extension protocol, the 
special registers allow users to get more 



'Switches are the 
No. 1 cause of 

'no problem 
found' diagnoses 
on service calls — 
and someone had 
to eat those costs. 
So we decided 
the switches had 
to go.' 



than 1 28.000 switch possibilities. 

A side benefit is that now the machine 
"knows" which cards are inside of it. 
making diagnosing problems simpler. 

Each add-in board designed for the 
MCA card has its own unique identifica- 
tion number and comes with a disk 
containing an .Adapter Definition File 
(.ADI-). a text file that describes which 
resources each plug-in board requires in 
order to function. 

Whenever a user installs a new board, 
the information on the ADF is stored in 
nonvolatile RAM on the main system 
board: this set-up information is then 
sent to the appropriate add-in board 
when the machine is turned on. From 
that time on. the system knows exactly 
which boards are installed, which greatly 
simplifies reconfiguring the machine and 
diagnosing trouble because of the identi- 
fication number. 

The bus also allows users to create a 



Mi 



"restore" file on disk, which duplicates 
the information in the setup RAM. This 
way you could set up your system easily 
in case you remove the system battery or 
it fails. 

.Mlematively. users could completely 
configure and set up one microcomputer, 
then insert the boards and use the restore 
file to ensure that all machines have 
exactly the same setup — something 
that's dilTicult to do on current AT-typc 
machines, considering the multiple DIP 
switches on most add-in boards. 

One crucial element is that each type 
of board should have its own identifica- 
tion number. In the basic plan. .12.000 
such numbers were reserved for IBM. 
and ■(2.000 were reserved for indepen- 
dent developers. IBM has acknowledged 
that developers have had trouble getting 
through to register their numbers, but 
s;iid that such problems have been solved 
(see sidebar, page Mi). 



BASIC WORKINGS. The MCA was designed 
to be completely processor independent, 
relying instead on a default timing cycle 
of 2(H) nanoseconds, with extendable 
cycles for sy nchronous or asynchronous 
operations. 

Heath emphasized that any processor 
could be used in the MCA — even non- 
Intel chips such as Motorola's 68000 
family used in the Macintosh and Sun 
and Apollo workstations. 

"Just about any processor will run on 
this bus — including non-Intel family 
processors." said Heath. "It is completely 
processor-independent." 

The MCA also includes a special 
protocol for fast system memory, which 
allows the use of faster 80-nanosecond. 
zero-wail-state memorv chips in the 
Model 80. 

One major distinction of the Micro 
Channel is in the way it recognizes and 
handles interrupts — the signals sent by 
add-in boards to the central processor. 

Both the IBM PC and PC AT use an 
"cdgc-triggcred" interrupt scheme, 
meaning that any peripheral that wants 
to send an interrupt merely has to change 
the signal level from low to high at the 
beginning of the interrupt. Heath said. 

In contrast, the Micro Channel uses 
"level-sensitive" interrupts, meaning that 
boards will hold the line active 
throughout the interrupt process. In 
addition, some interrupts have higher 
priority than others. This means that 
multiple interrupts can be active at the 
same time, with the system prioritizing 
and deciding which to operate on. 

This makes it easier for add-in cards to 
share logic with the main system board, 
and it reduces the possibility of a signal 
getting lost or of a spurious signal (caused 
by a faulty board or by outside electronic 
interference) accidentally causing a 
problem. 

Another, more immediate advantage 



The Physical Layout of the Micro Ciiannel Architecture 



The final Micro Channel Architecture as 
released in IBM's PS/2 Models 50. 60. and 
80 includes three different physical connec- 
tions to add-in boards: a 1 6-bit connector, a 1 6- 
bit connector with a special video connector, 
and a 32-bil connector. 

All of these connectors are considerably 
more complex than the bus used in the original 
IBM PC XT and PC AT. according to IBM's 
Chet Heath. With the Micro Channel, there are 
now multiple signal lines (the means of 
exchanging information between the system 
board and an add-in board) as well as more 
power and ground lines. 

The 1 6-hit channel was designed to accom- 
modate 77 signal lines. 29 power and ground 
lines, a separate audio line, and five reserved 
lines in a 58-position. 50-mil pitch (pin-to-pin 
spacing) card. In fact, it's divided into a 45- 
position 8-bit section plus an 1 1 -position 16-bil 
extension, separated by a space two positions 
wide to ensure that the board is correctly 
installed. \oii can get two signals for each 
position on either side of the plug-in board. 

I he .12-bit channel extends this design even 
further to allow .12-bit memory addressing and 
data transfer capabilities. It does this by adding 
.1 1 signal lines. 1 5 power and ground lines, and 
16 reserved lines to the 16-bit extension. 

It also adds a "matched memory section" ^_ 
used to accelerate memory transfers faster than 
10 MHz with three signal lines, three power and 
ground lines, and three reserved lines to the original 8- 
bit section to accommodate the greater memory 
addressing, according to Heath. 

.Ml told, the .12-bit boards have 93 pins including 
the matched memory extension. 

These boards reflect several major advances over 



Micro Channel Connectors 



VIdao Eilanaton 



S-BH 
Section 



16-Blt 
Extension 



16-Bit Connector • 



16-Bit Connector with Video Extension 
32-Bit Connector with hiatclied kitenwry 



J 



Matclwd 
— Memory 

Section 



-S-Bil 
Section 



. 16-Bit 
Extension 



— 32-Bil 
Extension 



IBM 's MCA includes three different connections: a / 6~bit connector, a 
16-bit connector witfi a video extension, and a 32-bit connector. 



those used in .AT-type machines — including 386 
machines based on the PC AT architecture. Boards 
designed specifically for the MCA will be able to use 
more signals for input and output, for such functions 
as controlling ports or disk drives. 

When building PC AT — and 386/AT — 
machines, board designers used the 16- and 32-bit 



capabilities only for addressing memory. 
Heath said. Such designers continued to build 
8-bil boards, rather than 16-bit boards, for 
input and output, so that their products would 
work in both PC X T- and A l -class machines. 

But in the PS/2 family, the 80286-based 
Models 50 and 60 have only 16-bit connectors, 
while the 386-based Model 80 has both 16- and 
32-bit connectors, making more sophisticated 
input and output likely, said Heath. 

The MC.'\ also provides a broader distribu- 
tion of power and ground lines. Every fourth 
pin is cither a ground or power pin. offset on 
either side of the board by two pins, so that no 
signal is more than one pin. or .1 inch away 
from a ground. This reduces the size of the loop 
made by the electronic signal to one-twentieth 
the size used in a PC AT. This has several 
advantages, including the fact that it dramati- 
cally cuts down on the electromagnetic inter- 
ference, and it creates a cleaner, more reliable 
electronic signal, said Heath. These advantages 
would be lost if the architecture accommodat- 
ed even one old slot, he said. 

Each machine also has one 16-bit slot with 
an extra 1 0-pin video connector, this lets users 
avoid paying for the circuitry when extending 
the function to maintain compatibility. 

With the video connector on the Micro 

Channel bus. a new card with a higher graphics 

standard — such as IBM's 8514 card — no 
longer has to include the circuitry for backwards 
compatibility. Instead, it can pass the signal back to 
the VG A chip on the main system board. 

fhrough this connection, video signals can be 
merged and synchronized. In addition, images are 
refreshed at a slightly higher speed in most modes for 
reduced flicker. 



aterlal 



36 

SEPHMBER 21, 1987 



Hardware 



INFO 
WORLD 



of having interrupts with different 
priorities is that the number of commu- 
nications ports has multiplied. The PC 
AT was designed to accommodate at 
most two such ports; the PS/2 can 
accommodate up to eight. 

MUITIPIE DEVICE ARBITRATION. The 

prioritized bus arbitration mechanism on 
the Micro Channel allows multiple 
Masters, devices like processors that 
control their own memorv' independent 
of the main system memorv. These could 
be input/output subsystems, graphics 
coprocessors, or even other central pro- 
cessing units. 

The current implementation of the 
Micro Channel allows for up to eight 
Masters, in addition to the Direct Memo- 
ry Address (DM,^) "slaves." or devices 
that do not control their own access to 
memors. but instead rely on a DMA 
controller chip. 

Printers and communications devices 
are usually interrupt driven, but would 
be more elTectly used as Masters, Heath 
said. This could lead to concurrent 
processing — or, more likely, intelligent 
subsystems, such as an intelligent disk 
controller or communications board, 
perhaps with built-in caching or file 
encryption. 

Assigning these peripherals Master 
status means that the main system board 
can act as an "executive." controlling the 
activities of other processors being used 
on the system. 

Since the MCA allows a number of 
different devices attached to the system, 
each working indef)endently. it also 
needed a way of prioritizing the 
interrupts from all of these devices — in 
other words, deciding which requests for 
bus access are the most imp>ortant and 
deserve to be processed first. In MCA 
jargon this is called arbitration. 

Through arbitration, the Micro 
Channel looks at which DM.A devices 
have requested interrupts and gives the 
go-ahead to the device with the highest 
priority. 

As part of this scheme, interrupts only 
go into cfTect when they are confirmed by 
both the MCA's hardware and control- 
ling software. 

The Micro Channel currently allows 
for 16 levels of arbitration between 
devices on the bus. Eight of these levels 
are assigned to various DMA devices: 
seven are "reserved" for future use; and 
the system board processor accounts for 
the lowest level. In addition, the system 
board controls two higher levels of 
arbitration for error conditions and 
memory refresh, which arc not available 
to devices on the bus. Two of the 




currently assigned DMA channels 
provide what is called "virtual DMA." 
meaning they can be reassigned among 
various devices, thus leaving open the 
pos.sibility of extending the Master 
concept through many different levels. 

For example, such a hierarchical 
system might permit users to build an 
"expansion box" containing up to 16 
processors or linking to even more 
expansion boxes. However. Heath said 
this would require very sophisticated 
control throughout the system. 

Although most devices can accom- 
plish a "transaction" in the single memo- 
ry cycle granted to them when their turn 
comes up in arbitration, some devices 
require multiple cycles to transfer blocks 
of data. For these, the MCA includes a 
feature called "burst mode," which 
allows a device to use multiple cycles. 

For example, burst mode allows a disk 
controller enough time to access multiple 
disk sectors in one pass, allow ing for a 1:1 
interface on the disk drives. Combined 
with the built-in caching scheme, this 
allowed IBM to use slower hard disk 
drives without losing speed. In addition. 
IBM claims that the slower drives are 
ultimately more reliable and longer-lived 
than the faster drives. 

To manage all this, and to ensure that 
all devices can get access in a timely 
fashion, the Micro Channel uses a 
"fairness" algorithm. The allows devices 
to use the burst mode, but makes them 
wait after they get their turn until all 
other devices have had a shot, regardless 
of priority. 

Fairness and arbitration will be partic- 
ularly important in moving toward a 
multitasking, multiprocessing environ- 



'What may seem 
obvious now is the 

result of a lot of 
soul searching. But 
once we mode the 
decision to 
change the 
physical format of 

the bus, the door 

was wide open.' 



ment in the future, said Heath. The 
current PC AT architecture allows for an 
alternate Master but has no burst mode 
and no fairness algorithm, according to 
Heath. 

Tomorrow's systems could allow up 
to 16 processors with the ability to 
arbitrate, hut to do this you will need an 
operating system that supports "multiple 
threads" — in other words, multiple 
operations continuing at the same time. 
OS/2 will be one of the first operating 
systems for microcomputers that allows 
this. 

REUABIUTY. Heath said that several Micro 
Channel features should make systems 
based on it more reliable. The number of 
signals in and out of chips is reduced, 
thus aiding LSI design. 

For example, one issue that often 
crops up in the IBM PC or PC AT 
architecture involves how systems react if 
they receive extra interrupts from a 
device, due either to a bad board or 
extraneous electromagnetic interference. 
Heath said that the MC.\ has resolved 
that issue. Unlike the old bus. the Micro 
Channel can check the state of a board at 
any time and get a positive acknowledg- 
ment of which board sent a given signal. 
If a board is producing bad signals, the 
Micro Channel can detect this and report 
the error. 

Similariy. the Micro Channel should 
be able to detect and then map out a bad 
sector of memorv, allowing you to 
continue computing even if you have a 
bad memory chip. 

All these features should make it 
easier to run diagnostics on machines 
based on the Micro Channel, according 



to Heath, who cited this as a major 
reason IBM was able to drastically reduce 
its maintenance contracts for the PS/2 as 
compared to similar contracts for the PC 

-M. 

"Obviously, the best of all possible 
worids is that problems don't occur," 
said Heath. "But the next best thing to 
that is being able to pinpoint exactly 
what went wrong." 

POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATIONS. The Micro 
Channel Architecture makes possible 
innumerable variations on existing PS/2 
hardware, according to Heath. 

"Users are going to build things on 
their computers that you wouldn't have 
dreamed could be done on a PC." said 
Heath. 

For example, by using a "sleep" 
signal, users could design a system that 
contains two identical add-in boards, 
each working independently. Then, if 
one board failed for some reason, the 
system could put it to "sleep" and let the 
other board continue working. This 
would allow for fault-tolerant computer 
operations. 

.Another option would be to put into a 
computer multiple concurrent pro- 
cessors, each working simultaneously. 
For instance, you might be able to put a 
number of plug-in boards, each contain- 
ing .186 chips plus their own memory, 
into a Micro Channel. Even paying as 
high a price as $2,000 per plug-in board, 
users could get a neariy a I MIPS/$ 1 ,000 
ratio, a vast improvement over today's 
average .25 MIPS/$l,000. Heath said. 

ROOM FOR GROWTH. Above all. Heath 
emphasized, the Micro Channel gives the 
PC industry room to grow in. 

"Just in case IBM didn't think of 
every thing — and we know we didn't — 
we kept a lot of the potential in reserve," 
said Heath. "We're waiting to see what 
ideas the industry can give us with the 16- 
bit and .■!2-bit implementation of the 
Micro Channel." 

In 198.1. when work on the MCA bus 
began. Heath said. IBM didn't have the 
answers, but only knew the problems and 
limitations of the old architecture — an 
architecture that technically left IBM no 
room to grow in. 

"Having the knowledge that a solu- 
tion is required and having the solution 
itself are two very different things." said 
Heath. "Bui never again will we make 
the same mistake of not allowing ample 
room for technical growth." 

With the Micro Channel. IBM hopes 
to have an architecture that is applicable 
not only to the PS/2, but to future 
generations of machines as well. 



Mix-Up of PS/2 Board ID Numbors Resolved 



Earlier this summer, there was a furor in the PC 
industry following reports that IBM was dragging 
its feet on giving out identification numbers for the 
Micro Channel. Some board makers even charged 
that IBM was refusing to give out ID numbers so that 
only IBM-made boards could be used in the PS/2 
family (see "Micro Channel IDs Could Delay Add- 
Ons," June 8). 

However, Chet Heath, the senior design engineer of 
the Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) said that was 
nothing more than a misunderstanding. 

According to Heath, what happened was this: 
Third-party board makers were told to call an 8(X) 
number to get an ID number assigned to the PS/2 
boards they were building; when they called the 
number, they got what sounded like an answering 
machine message followed by a beep. At that point, 
most callers then left messages detailing their names, 
phone numbers, and requests for a PS/2 ID number. 



Unfortunately, said Heath, it was not an answering 
machine but a recorded voice asking them to hold the 
line until an operator was available, 

"And of course they never got a return call from 
IBM because IBM never got any message," said 
Heath, who added that he himself had called the 
number and made the same mistake. 

IBM has already taken steps to make getting an ID 
number easier for third-party board makers, said 
Heath, who emphasized that IBM never meant to 
"assign" the numbers, but only intended to assist in 
making sure that the ID numbers were not in conflict 
with one another. 

Of the 64,000 possible ID numbers, IBM has 
reserved 32,000 for itself, saying that the remaining 
32,000 belong to the industry, 

"We could have been greedy and kept those 
numbers ourselves, but we reserved 32,000 for non- 
IBM developers," said Heath. 



Also conlrao to other industry rumors. Heath 
emphasized that the reason for the ID numbers was 
not to allow PS/2s to discriminate between IBM and 
non-IBM cards for proprietary reasons. 

But because of the initial problem with readily 
getting an ID number from IBM, many board makers 
just went ahead and either made up a number 
themselves or looked at IBM-made PS/2 boards and 
used the ID number assigned to them. 

This is not a good idea, according to Heath, "I can't 
predict what might happen if board makers do this," 
said Heath. "This is not good design practice." 

Heath said that if board makers simply keep trying, 
there will be no problems getting an ID number 
assigned. 

"It's been a busy phone number, but if board 
makers persevere, we'll assist them in finding an ID 
number that no one else has used," Heath said. 

— Alice LaPlanle 



Cl 



INFO 



WORLD 



Macintosh News 



37 



News 



Fax Program Supports 
Ba<kground Processing 

Solutions Inc. announced 
software that will enable the 
new Apple Fax Modem to 
run in the background with 
or without the Multifinder. 

Mac Fax will support 
background processing so us- 
erscan send and receive 
fascimile documents while 
working in an application. 

The program features 
Glue, Solutions lnc."s utility 
forexchangingdocumcnts 
with users who ma\ not have 
the application the docu- 
ment wascreated in. Mac 
Fax also supports TIFF out- 
put and input conversion. 

The program is expected 
in the fourth quarter. 

Solutions Inc.. P.O. Box 
989. Monlpelier. VT 05602; 
(802)229-0368. 

Heizer Offers Programs 
For Use With HyperCard 

Heizer Software announced 
it will publish software for 
use with Apple's HyperCard. 

The company will this fall 
offer a catalog, called Stack 
Exchange, of available pro- 
grams that will range in price 
from $2 to $200. 

Heizer already publishes 
programs for Microsoft 
Works and Excel. 

HeizerSoftware. 1941 
Oak Park Blvd.. Suite .W. 
Pleasant Hill. CA 94523: 
(415)943-7667. 

letraset introduces Its 
Design Training Paclcage 

Letraset is now oftering a 
design training package for 
uscrsof its Ready-Set-Go 
page layout program. 

RSG Design Workshop, 
an eight-hour modular 
course emphasizing type and 
design princi pies, has an ad- 
ministrator's guide, instruc- 
tor's notes, reference materi- 
als, overhead transparencies, 
and student notebooks. 

The $795 package will be 
available in October. 

Letraset USA, 40 Eisen- 
hower Drive. Paramus. NJ 
07653: (20 1) 845-6 1(X). 

Lasercount Trades Costs 
Of Deslitop Presentation 

Lasercount. from Lasercount 
Systems.trackscostsin- 
curred in creating desktop 
presentation materials. 

With the $285 program, 
accounts aresetuponthe 
Mac and then sent to the 
Laservs 'riter or other Post- 
script printers. 

lasercount Systems Inc.. 
103 BlueRidgeTrain. Aus- 
tin. TX 78746: (3 1 2)327- 
2778. 




• HYPERCARD PRODUCTS 

Stackware Development 
Starting to Pick Up Steam 

By Laurie Flynn 

If the pace of recent development is any 
indication, stackware. the term coined by Apple 
Computer to mean applications written for 
HyperCard, may just be the new product category 
Apple hoped to create. 

In the month since the product's introduction 
at the Macworld Expo in Boston, developers have 
been putting finishing touches on commercial applications 
ranging from a front end to an artificial intelligence engine to a 
training system for disc jockeys. 

Stackware "shareware" programs are also appearing on 
bulletin boards in droves. According to one estimate, between 
six and eight new stackware programs and utilities appear 
every day on Compuserve and Genie. "I've already 
downloaded 40 to 50 stacks," said Dan Shafer, a Redwood 
City, California-based consultant who's developing Stackware 
and writing a book on Hypertalk, HyperCard's programming 
language. Shafer is also working on an expert system 
development environment for HyperCard that he expects to 
complete before the end of the year. 

UME Corp. of Larkspur, California, is working on a 
project using HyperCard on the Mac II. The application will 
be the front end for UME's Expert Controller, used for 
diagnostics and trouble-shooting of industrial machinery. 
David Sanders, head of the Los Angeles Mac Users Group, is 
working on a program to train disc jockeys. 

Activision plans to publish several Hyjjercard applications, 
including a program to aid consultants in the management of 
their businesses. Written by Danny Goodman, author of the 
first book on HyperCard, the program is titled Focal Point. 

"Basically. HyperCard turns the Macintosh into an 
information appliance," said Brightstar Technologies' Craig 
Ragland, who is developing Stackware for corporate clients. 

While all this development is going on. however, some 
HyperCard users are discovering the program has limitations. 
"I thought it was going to replace all of the low<ost file 
programs, but I'm not so sure anymore," said Ragland. "The 
worst thing is the performance of the language itself gets 
bogged down when there are a lot of buttons on one card. 
When you ask it to process across cards it's very slow." 

But despite some uncertainty, the new program has drawn 
considerable interest from developers and users. According to 
Shafer, "It gives you a feeling of being in total control." 



Mac II Monitor 
Supports 256 
Shades of Gray 

A 17-inch gray-scale monitor 
for the Macintosh II that sup- 
ports the simultaneous display 
of 256 shades is the newest 
oflering from E-Machines Inc. 
The monitor with a bundled 
video controller and cable lists 
for $2,895. 

The large-screen monitor 
provides capabilities intermedi- 
ate to color and monochrome 
technologies, according to t- 
Machines president Steve 
Vollum. Its features are current- 
ly most useful to desktop pub- 
lishing and engineering appli- 
cations. 

The goal of the product. The 
Big Picture IQ, is to display 
realistic, photographic-quality 
scanned images or high-resolu- 
tion text and graphics. 

The company's gray-scale 
imaging technique captures the 
subtle shadings of scanned im- 




The Big Picture IQ monitor is said 
to simulate 300-dot-per-inch out- 
put devices on-screen. 



ages by displaying an accurate 
representation of pixels' lumi- 
nescence, according to E-Ma- 
chine's software engineer Steve 
Splonzskoski. The company 
said the product can simulate 
300-dot-per-inch output devices 
on-screen. 

The Big Picture IQ has a 
screen resolution of 1.024 by 
808 pixels vs. the Macintosh ll's 
standard 640-bv-480 resolution. 

E-Machines" Inc.. 7945 S.W. 
Mohawk St.. Tualatin. OR 
97062: (503) 692-6656. 

— Jeff Annus 



Basic Language for Mac 
Produces Color Graphics 

Users Can Define Own Colors 



By Jeff Angus 

True Basic 2.0 will be the first 
high-level language to take ad- 
vantage of the Mac ll's unique 
features, charting new territory 
in its support for color, accord- 
ing to developer True Basic Inc. 

The language, to be released 
in January, will cost $99. The 
previous version of the product 
had an upward-compatible syn- 
tax for controlling Mac II screen 
graphics; Version 2.0 adds the 
capability to produce color 
graphics. Programmers may 
choose either designated colors 
or mix their own using a Basic 
statement. 

Importantly, the graphics 
commands are device-indepen- 
dent, not tied to specific graph- 
ics cards or displays, the com- 
pany said. "True Basic's syntax 
anticipates the evolution of 
equipment, both for display 
technology and printer/plotter 
offerings," said marketing vice 
president Stew Chapin. "We're 
committed to al- 
lowing program- 
mers to support 
new equipment 
with varying res- 
olutions as that 
equipment 
comes on the 
scene." 

Chapin also 
said True Basic 
2.0 is the only 
high-level lan- 
guage with 6888 1 
math coproces- 
sor support, 
meaning that 
floating-point 



calculations, especially trans- 
cendental functions, will show 
greater accuracy and consider- 
able speed improvement. In 
combination with True Basic's 
recent bundling with scientific 
and engineering equipment by 
Perkin-Elnier Corp. and Sie- 
mens .AG. this performance 
enhancement, up to 20.000 
percent in some cases, indicates 
the language is emerging as a 
leading product for numerically 
oriented applications on the 
Mac II. Chapin said. 

The language nov^ features 
enhanced editing capability. 
Modula-2-like subprograms, 
and both higher- and lower-level 
ways to access Mac toolbox rou- 
tines. True Basic code is por- 
table between its various ver- 
sions, which include Macintosh. 
IBM PC. Amiga, and Atari ST. 

True Basic Inc.. 39 S. Main 
St.. Hanover, NH 03755; (603) 
64.3-388. 



le [dll teeftli 



I Run Fenti 





Three-dimensional graphics will be possible with 
True Basic, Version 2.0 and the 3-D Graphics 
Library. True Basic will cost $99 and support the 
Mac ll's color capabilities. 



Aldus Licenses Altsys' 
Mac Graphics Program 



By Eric Loch 

SEATTLE — Aldus Corp. has 
acquired the rights to a Macin- 
tosh graphics program and is 
now readying it for market. 

The company recently ac- 
knowledged that it had licensed 
an Illustratorlike graphics pro- 
gram, currently dubbed Master- 
piece, from Altsys Corp. of 
Piano, lexas. 

"What I am willing to say at 
this time is that we have a 
business relationship with Altsys 
in Texas for a Macintosh graph- 
ics product." said Aldus presi- 
dent Paul Brainerd in a recent 
interview. "It is a licensing 
arrangement. We are not ac- 
quiring the company." 

When released. Masterpiece, 
a Postscript-based illustration 
program that uses Bezier curves 
for drawing, will be more than 



just an add-on product for 
Pagemaker. Brainerd said. "It's 
a substantial application on par 
w ith Pagemaker in terms of the 
benefits to our users." he said. 

Stressing that he was not 
ready to formally announce a 
product, Brainerd nevertheless 
confirmed rumors of a relation- 
ship between Aldus and Altsys 
that have been circulating for 
months. 

Altsys president Jim Von Ehr 
confirmed that his company has 
signed a marketing agreement 
with Aldus, adding that Altsys 
has retained development rights 
to the program. 

Aldus plans to begin private 
prerelease demonstrations of the 
program to industn analysts 
and media in mid-October. Von 
Ehr said. 



Copyrighted material 



38 

SEPHMBER 21, 1987 



Macintosh News 



INFO 
WORLD 



Smalltalk Version to Utilize 
Macintosh ll's Speed, Color 



By Laurie Flynn 

Parcplace, a recent spin-ofT of Xerox's 
Palo Alio Research Center (PARC), 
begins shipping this week a version of its 
Smalhalk programming environment for 
the Macintosh II that takes advantage of 
the machine's speed and color cap- 
abihlies. 

The object-oriented Smalltalk pro- 
gramming environment is suited for 
applications that require dynamic mod- 
cling with graphical user interfaces, 
according to Pat Groves, marketing 
director at Parcplace. 



Smalltalk was developed at PARC to 
support a variety of platforms. Including 
Sun Microsystems and Apollo work- 
stations, and the Macintosh Plus and 
Macintosh SE. The performance of 
Smalltalk for the Macintosh II "com- 
pares very well to the version for the 
AfKsllo and Sun workstations," said 
Groves. 

Applications developed in Smalltalk 
are easily ported to other environments, 
said Grove. For example, a program 
written for Sun workstations can be 



ported to the Mac II in a matter of 
minutes, he said. 

As it does with its entire line, the 
compare' offers two versions of the Mac 
II program. Smalltalk CL. priced at $995. 
contains all the features standard to the 
program in all environments. The DE 
version of Smalltalk is optimized for the 
Mac environment, including such fea- 
tures as the capabilitv to print from 
Appletalk. It sells for $1,295. The 
program requires at least 2 megabytes of 
memory. 

Smalltalk for the Macintosh SE and 
Macintosh Plus is also capable of running 
on the Macintosh II. but it does not 
support the Macintosh ll's color capabili- 
ties or the Motorola 68020 micro- 
processor. 

Parcplace Systems. 2400 Geng Road. 
Palo Alto. CA 94303: (415) 859-1000. 



Product Permits 
Automatic Dialing 
From HyperCard 

By Laurie Flynn 

Hyperdialer makes it possible to auto- 
matically dial telephone numbers from a 
HyperCard database without tying up the 
Mac's serial port. 

Created by Datadesk International, 
the hardware interface, for use with 
Apple's HyperCard program, connects to 
the Mac's audio port and to the handset 
port of the phone. Because it disables the 
audio function of the Mac. the unit 
includes a backup speaker so the user 
doesn't lose any of the machines audio 
capability. The $29.95 box docs not 
require a modem and uses a regular 
phone line, said Bill Childress, vice 
president of Datadesk. 

The device is also compatible with 
Stackware written for HyperCard. 
Childress added, as well as for other 
software that may be written with the 
same algorithm. For example, the 
Hyperdialer will run with Borland's 
Sidekick and the next release of Living 
Videotext's More program, he said. 
Currently, however, only programs 
written specifically to work with 
HyperCard are guaranteed to work with 
the unit. 

"The beauty of the product is that it's 
a cheap, inexpensive way of having 
automatic dialing." said Childress. "The 
benefits are that it's a device that doesn't 
tie up the serial port — only the speaker 
port — but you don't lose any of the 
audio functions of the Macintosh." 
Production units will be available No- 
vember I. 

Datadesk International. 7650 Haskell 
Ave.. Suite A. Van Nuvs. CA 91406: 
(818)780-1673. 



Laserpaint Add-On 
Displays More Than 
500 Pantone Colors 

Lascrwurc Int. announced recently an 
add-on to its Laserpaint program that 
permits the display of Pantone-standard 
colors. 

Laserpaint. dubbed by the firm an 
Integrated Graphics Workshop, can now 
display more than 500 Pantone colors on 
a Mac II with a color monitor. The add- 
on, called the Color Display Accessory, 
will be available in October, according to 
company president Isaac Goff. The price 
has not yet been established. 

The Pantone color matching system, 
developed and licensed by Pantone Inc. 
is generally considered the standard for 
color reproduction. 

The program can also automatically 
produce four-color and line-color separa- 
tions complete with registration marks, 
and artwork can be printed directly from 
the screen to Linotronic film, the compa- 
ny said. 

A new version that will improve the 
program's overall performance and fea- 
ture an improved user interface will be 
sent free of charge to registered users in 
October, GotTsaid. Laserpaint is $495. 

Laserware Inc.. P.O. Box 668. San 
Rafael. CA 94915: (415) 45.3-9500. 

— Laurie Flynn 



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Cl} aterial 



wi^lndust:ry 



Tandy's Roach: Value Lies in Compatibility, Price 



By Paula S. Stone 

In August, Tandv introduced the 
8()386-bascd Model 4000 and 
80286-based Model 1000 TX. ma- 
chines that continue its well-honed 
stratcgs of following IBM's stan- 
dards with lower priced technolo- 
gy. In fact, the product introduc- 
tion concluded with the logos of 
not just Tandy but also IBM and 
Apple, signifying that Tandy has its 
eye on market leaders. InfoW'orld 
recently sat down with Tandy 
president and CEO John Roach to 
discuss Tandy's strategy and the 
changing PC market. 

InfoWbrld: What takes Tandy 
so long in following the lead and 
introducing products? 

John Roach: I'm not sure that is 
absolutely true. We have taken the 
lead in our new products. The 
lOOOHX (also introduced in Au- 
gust] represents a higher level of 
technology than other low-end MS- 
DOS machines now have. 

The Tandy 4000 came out 
about a year after the Compaq 386 
introduction. We are early enough 
to participate in the real market — 
the buyers. We demonstrated early 
our equipment could use OS/2 so 
people would have the confidence 
to buy 286 and 386-based ma- 
chines without fear of being incom- 
patible with future software. Soft- 
ware compatibility, independent of 
hardware, is the real issue. 

You'll see us making moves that will 
tend to lead the industry. We are doing 
some things in networking that other 
hardware manufacturers are not. 



Tandy's new advertising focuses on value. 
How long has Tandy used this strategy and 
will you continue to use it? 

The value strategy is inherent in our basic 
philosophy. We have focused on it to 
portray value in the much larger perspective 
of quality, compatibility, and technology. 

Are there any changes at Tandy? 

We are developing our strategy to otTer 
the user much more than a clone. I don't 
know of any other manufacturer who has as 




Tandy's primary market is 
not the Fortune 500; it's the 
unfortunate 5 million. They 
hove always been Tandy 
customers. 



Maybe we ought to turn the 
question around and say maybe big 
business doesn't understand Tan- 
dy. Big business has not focused on 
the superior reliability and perfor- 
mance of some of our machines. 
Tandy's primary market is not the 
Fortune 500; it's the unfortunate 5 
million. They have always been 
Tandy customers, and we want to 
nurture and strengthen the rela- 
tionship. At the same time, the 
quality, performance, and value in 
our equipment will let us make 
gains in the Fortune 500 market. 

How are you countering the 
Radio Shack image of selling low- 
end electronics and \um does this 
conflict with offering computers? 

Tandy's total image has im- 
proved significantly. The very 
availability of these accessories 
should be considered more of a 
positive than a negative. Some 
people are unwilling to focus on 
our whole better-value concept. 



its primary objective making the low end 
more usable in the MS-DOS world, focusing 
on the ease of everything and the value this 
represents to the market. 

With the emphasis on IBM compatibil- 
ity, nliat arc Tandy's plans to support non- 
IBM products, such as the multiuser HD 
6000? 

HD 6000 users are mainly Xenix users. 
We plan to continue to support the custom- 
er but have no major enhancements on the 
drawing board. 

Do you care about Tandy's reputation as 
being a company that doesn't understand big 
business? 



What marketing changes can we 
expect from Tandy? 

We are approachmg schools and 
the government dill'erently and 
have more people focused in these 
areas. We are marketing through 
more dilTerent methods, like the 
VAR program and direct sales 
programs. We're training our sales- 
people more and will emphasize 
networking and accounting. As the year 
progresses, you'll see more in desktop 
publishing and workgroup solutions. 



Considering that the PS/2 line promises 
communications features for workgroup 
computing, will the stand-alone personal 
computer continue to exist? 

There will be stand-alone computers and 
those that communicate at differing levels. 
Instead of options narrowing, they may be 
broadening because of hardware indepen- 
dence and the capability to communicate 
with any computer regardless of bus struc- 
ture. Some of the PS/2 is just selling 
features. You get dilTcrent features on a 
Lincoln than a Cadillac. 



MARKETING STRATEGIES 



Companies Find Benefits in Previewing Projects 



By Rachel Parker 



News 
Briefs 

Chips and Technologies 
Launflies Design Service 

Chips and Technologies, 
provider of chip sets to IBM 
PC-compatibk: makers, is 
broadening the services it of- 
fers customers. With the re- 
cent hire of Stephen S. 
Kahng, designer of the 
Leading Edge Model D. 
Chips otTicially launched its 
design serv ices operation. 
Kahng and his stafTwill help 
board and systems makers 
efficiently integrate chip sets 
into products, according to a 
company spokesman. 

"With higher levels of 
complexity and concerns of 
compatibility, it is important 
to look at the whole system," 
saidaChipsspokesman. The 
design services operation will 
assist customers at all stages, 
even through FCC approval, 
the spokesman said. 

However, the new serv ice 
does not presage a move into 
the hardware business. "We 
don't like the margins in that 
business." the spokesman 
said. 

Novell and 3Com Report 
Strong Network Sales 

The network suppliers have 
stopped calling it the year of 
the network, but Novell and 
3Com are both enjoying 
strong sales. For its third fis- 
cal quarter, Novell reported 
salesof$48.7 million, an 87 
percent increa.se over the 
same quarter last year, and 
$5.3 million in net income, 
an 86 percent increase. Presi- 
dent Raymond Noorda said 
the increasecxceeded expec- 
tations and reflected strong 
interest in L.AN products. 

Competitor jCom's busi- 
ness is also accelerating. Ac- 
cording to a release of 
preliminary results, sales 
totaled $33.1 million forthe 
quarter ended August 3 1 , a 
66 percent increase. Net in- 
come isestimated to increase 
57 percent over the same 
quarter in 1986. 

IBM Sells 5.9 Million 
Shores of Its Intel Stock 

IBM recently sold 5.9 
million sharesof its Intel 
Corp. stock, bringing its 
holding to 7.9 million. An 
1 BM spokeswoman said Big 
Bl ue sold the shares for pure- 
ly financial reasons. In addi- 
tion, IBM's investment is 
lesscritical now that Intel 
hascmergedfrom its days of 
los-scs. The spokeswoman 
also said IBM isstill buyinga 
large number ofchips from 
Intel, and the two compa- 
nies' technology-exchange 
agreementsare still in force. 

Continued on Page 42 



A myriad of concerns keep 
many computer-related 
companies from revealing their 
technological innovations, but a 
growing number of companies 
arc finding that previews of 
works-in-progrcss can pay olT. 

"In major projects — that is 
those that take a long time or are 
very sophisticated — it is impor- 
tant to start soliciting feedback 
and comments from potential 
users as early as possible," said 
Robert Simon, president of PS 
Publishing, in San Francisco. At 
the recent Seybold Desktop 
Publishing Conference. PS Pub- 
lishing demonstrated some of 
the features of its PS Collage, a 
drawing program that when 



completed will be available for 
both the Macintosh and DOS 
environments. 

For QMS Inc.. there are three 
basic benefits to showing future 
technologies at trade shows, said 
Robert Owen, manager of pub- 
lic relations for QMS, in Mobile, 
Alabama. QMS has established 
technology centers in its booths 
for trade shows and has shown 
such projects as color graphics 
printing. By showing futures 
early, QMS gets feedback from 
major accounts, can reinforce its 
position as a technology leader, 
and may be able to keep cus- 
tomers from buying competi- 
tors' products by showing them 
what will be available from 



QMS. "We want to let the 
market know where we are 
going." Owen said. 

By far, the greatest advantage 
is the feedback, vendors agree. 
"We got a lot of designers 
stopping by with advice, and 
users gave us tips on the kind of 
things they want in PS Collage." 
said Siinon. In addition, demon- 
strating the product publicly can 
help a small company in the 
financial community. "As a 
smaller company, you have to 
build positive image in the 
industry." 

In addition, if a prcxiuct 
needs the support of third-party 
software developers, it helps to 
let them know what direction 



41 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



you are headed in, Owen said, 

"The apparent cost is that we 
may be giving away proprietary 
technology or rc\caling key cap- 
abilities," Simon said. "But it 
would take our competitors as 
long to incorporate those as it 
has taken us. They would always 
be behind, playing catch-up." 

Vendors preview ing products 
also run the risk that the audi- 
ence will believe the technology 
being shown represents a com- 
pleted prixluct and that custom- 
ers will decide to put ofl' pur- 
chases, waiting for the newer, 
more sophisticated product, 
said Owen. "But that hasn't 
happened yet. The advantages 
far outweigh those risks." 



42 

SEPTEMBIR 21, 1987 



lndust:ry 



INFO 
WORLD 



AST Research 
Shifts Focus to 
Connectivity 

By Mark Brownstein 

IRVINE, CA — AST Research Inc.. 
which started out a few years ago as a 
three-man partnership that produced 
expansion boards for the Apple II and 
IBM PC computers, is realigning its 
strategy and image around providing 
communications products. 

Since its founding, AST has tried to 
move with the market. Last year it 
leveraged its base in the add-on board 
market to become a "solutions compa- 
ny." selling its Premium-286 in a variety 
of configurations for different market 
needs. With key components in place, 
AST now hopes to become "the connec- 
tivity company." 

The company's goal is to provide 
products thai allow organizations to 



connect all their PC equipment. "We see 
the emergence of wide-area networks," 
said Dan Sheppard, manager of product 
marketing at AST. 

AST Research is "shifting the empha- 
sis onto systems products." Sheppard 
said. During the next eight months. AST 
hopes to provide all the LAN bridges and 
gateways needed to connect Macintosh. 
IBM PCs, and DEC computers, he said. 
In addition, AST is planning to have 
token ring products available in the first 
quarter of 1988. 

AST plans to improve the speed 
performance of asynchronous, synchro- 
nous, and LAN communications. In 
addition. AST products will support the 
trend toward corporate networks and 
wide-area networks, as well as support 
the multimedia requirements of its cus- 
tomers. Sheppard said. 

Future versions of its LAN. 3270, and 
5250 boards will be designed in sets of 
twos — with one supporting the standard 
bus and one supporting the Micro 
Channel bus, Sheppard said. The compa- 
nv also plans to expand its support for 
APPC/LU6.2. DIA/DCA. ISO. TCI/IP. 
and X.25 communications protocols. 



Dell Computer Continues Its Expansion; 
Tandy and IBM Professionals Join Team 



AUSTIN. TX — Seven Tandy Corp. 
managers and other personnel recently 
moved south from Fort Worth. Texas, to 
Dell Computer Corp.. continuing Dell's 
strategy of filling its ranks with seasoned 
professional managers. 

"Once Graham Beachum [former 
Tandy vice president of marketing and 
sales] was hired as [Dell] senior vice 
president of marketing and sales, he 
brought in Tandy and IBM people to 
make an impact on the company." said 
John Ellert. Dell spokesman. Ellert said 
an equal number of new employees have 
come from Tandy and IBM. 

Mark Yamagata. formerly director of 
computer products at Tandy, joined Dell 
as vice president of marketing. Dell has 



also hired Kent Roberts, Dennis Young, 
Ed Cagle, and Luanne Kelly from 
Tandy's marketing division, and Her- 
schel Hochman from manufacturing. 

"Dell is a new company that's fast 
moving and exciting. There's lots of 
opportunity here," Yamagata said. 

A start-up company has its appeal in 
terms of career opportunity and financial 
reward, said John Roach, Tandy presi- 
dent and CEO. 

In a separate move, Dell has organized 
the National Customer Support Center 
under the direction of Ralph Merriman, 
a former IBM marketing manager. The 
NCSC will provide technical and other 
support services. 

— Paula S. Slone 



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News Briefs 

Continued From Poqe 41 

Commodore International Reolignsr 
Plans Major Marketing Promotion 

With a $60 million investment from 
Prudential. Commodore International is 
getting ready to unleash a major market- 
ing push later this year. The company 
streamlined all its operations, except 
marketing and sales, and is booking prime 
advertising space in Las Vegas for 
Comdex and television slots for Christ- 
mas, according to Rich Mclntyre. senior 
vice president of sales and marketing. 
Mclntyre was brought to West Chester. 
Pennsylvania, headquarters to turn 
around the company, which last fiscal 
year lost more than $200 million. The 
sales and marketing realignment has 
already helped the bottom line. The 
company expects to report a profit of 
more than $20 million for this fiscal year. 

More People Planning to Purdiase 
Color Output Devices, Study Finds 

Manufacturers of color output devices 



likely will find that they have trouble 
keeping up with demand, according to a 
recent study conducted by CAP Inter- 
national. 

In the survey. CAP found that 48 
percent of the respondents intend to buy 
a color primer or plotter in the next 12 
months — double last year's response. 
Over two years, nearly 75 percent of the 
respondents said their companies were 
likely to buy color output devices — with 
45 percent saying they definitely would 
buy. 

CAP said the demand for color output 
devices can be tied to increased use of 
color monitors and color software, as 
well as falling prices. 

Firm Sells Equity, Distribution 
Rights to British Manufacturer 

Wall Data, a Redmond. Washington, 
manufacturer of IBM mainframc-to- 
micro hardware and software, exchanged 
30 percent of its equity and extra- 
continental distribution rights to Atlantic 
Computers. PLC. in Great Britain, for $3 
million. 

Wall Data also received U.S. rights for 
Orator. Atlantic's voice and data com- 
munication product. 




COMPUTER PRODUCTS 



SOFTWARE 



Hioir um. 

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 14. 1987] 



1 ,Tk BOARDS, I^ODEMS » INTERFACES 1 


1 


1 


55 


Smaitmodem 1 200 • Hayes • ' 


2 


4 


203 


H«fcul«t Graphics Card nut - Hercules • lB^1 


3 


3 


208 


SmaidnodafTi 1 20OB ■ Hayes ■ iBM 


4 


2 


106 


SmartmodeiTi 2400 ■ Hayes 


S 


5 


10 


Abova Boom 286 • Intel ■ if.' 


6 


6 


25 


EGA Wondar - ATI Technologies • 'BM 


7 


8 


193 


SIxPakPlus • AST Research • bl / 


a 


9 


151 


HereulM Colof Card - Hercules • IBM 


9 


7 


73 


Smoftmodam 2400B ■ Hayes • »/ 


10 


10 


10 


Loog link ■ Intellicom 


11 


12 


73 


Gomecard III • CH Products • BM 


12 


18 


32 


if Vega Deliix* ■ Video-7 ■ IBI,' 


13 


11 


13 


Logical ConnocMon • Fifth Generation 


14 


14 


12 


SAMpoga 286 ■ AST Reseorch • H,' 


IS 


17 


47 


iIV611C Parallel liileiface • MRP Processing • AP 


16 




1 


4 IBMA2-DCA- 


17 


15 


29 


Bcfnoulli Box Adapter Card • Iomega • Bl.'i 


18 


13 


5 


Above Board PS/2a6 • Intel ■ IK',' 


19 


16 


72 


Practtcal IModem 1200 • Practical Peripherals - 8M 


20 


19 


29 


Captain Mumtunction Board • Tecmar ■ BtTl 


MONITORS 1 


1 


1 


78 


JC 1401 MuHisync • NEC Home Electronics 


2 


2 


24 


318 Hi-Res Color • AT8<T Data Systems 


3 


3 


34 


410 Ambei • Amdek 


4 


4 


32 


313 Mono • ATM Data Systems 


5 


7 


6 


ColOf 725 ■ Amdek 


6 


6 


75 


Coior 722 CGA/EGA • Amdek 


7 


8 


4 


AST Monochrome Display - AST Research 


a 


5 


133 


Video 31 OA AmkMf TTL - Amdek 


9 




5 


■4 Video 1280 Hi-Res Monochrome • Amdek 


10 




68 


JB 1285 Amber Ta • NEC Home Electronics 


HARDWARE 




COMI^UNICATIONS. SYSTEMS « UTILITIES 


1 


1 


205 


Crosstalk XVI • DCA/Crosstolk Communications • iBM 


2 


2 


77 


Fasibock • Fifth Generation • iBf /. MAC 


3 


4 


178 


Sideways • Funk Sottvware • AP iBIs/i 


4 


5 


14 


Smaitenn 240 • Persott • IBM 


5 


3 


19 


Mace UNimes ■ Paul Mace • B Ji 


6 


9 


130 


If Smartcom 11 • Hayes • BM r/.'.C NI 


7 


7 


53 


Caibon Copy Plus • Meridian Technokjgy • iBf / 


8 


6 


25 


Norton Uttitties Advanced ■ Norton Computing • IBt/ 


9 


8 


48 


XTREE • Executive Systems • F-I .' 


10 


10 


23 


Disk Optimizer • SoftLogic Solutions ■ iBfvi 



LfGM> Ae-WrtBo. A^JldplB I SMm. AI-Mort. AKI-Ani 6300. COM C' 
MAC=4()()M MocMotfV M=K NM. UN=Mk. R=Mari St. Xl=Xtr*i 



tCOMNS ^ 
UPFASI 3 



ei987 SoAwl* Convultr PioducH, Inc 



While most of the categories' leaders held their own, DCA's Irmo 2 made its first 
appearance on the Softsel Hotlist, which tracks soles from Softsel to retailers. 



43 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



Tech St^reet: 



By John Gantz 



Lotus Is Out of the Financial Woods — and Now Capable of Buying the Forest 



If not this quarter, then next, Lotus, the 
wunderkind of the software biz. will pass 
the $ 100-million-a-quarter market. 
While a handful of firms in our industr>' 
have grown this fast — Apple. Sun 
Microsystems. Seagate — they have all 
been hardware companies. Most of what 
they sell are iron and silicon in big boxes, 
which require sophisticated assembly 
lines to make. 

What Lotus sells comes on floppy 
disks and is shrink-wrapped. For a 
software company to be a $400-million 
money-making machine within five 
years of its first product shipment is the 
kind of track record you normally 
associate with rock stars, hit movies, or a 
Bill Cosby sitcom. 

To me. the company defies rational 
analysis. Back in fall 1983 when Lotus 
went public, its product was clearly a 
success, but its future earnings potential 
was unknown. The company had cumu- 
lative revenues of less than $20 at the 
time the prospectus was printed and 
quickly needed revenues over $150 mil- 
lion per year to justify the stock's asking 
price. Only a true believer buying under 
emotion or faith could expect an 18- 
month-old start-up to catapult to indus- 
try leadership in two years. 

The true believers were right. It was 
possible to build a $200-million compa- 
ny on the basis of a single software 
package. And it looks like it will be 
possible to build a substantial portion of 
a $400-million company on a single 
product. 

But where Lotus has done what 
MicroPro hasn't is to prepare for the day 
that everyone has a copy of 1-2-3 and 
nobody needs another. The company has 
managed to sustain revenue and earnings 
momentum while laying a base for a 
major product expansion. Lotus invent- 
ed (or co-opted) the most successful 
computer programming tool, the spread- 
sheet, since Basic was invented in the 
1960s and is now in the process of 
building other software to take advantage 
of the de facto standard. 

It hasn't been a total Cakewalk. Lotus 
had. in case you missed it. one year of no 
growlh — the four quarters starting with 
fourth quarter 1985. Revenues actually 
declined for two quarters after that. 

But then they bounced right back — 
enough so that for the first time in the 
company's history, it made more in the 
first quarter of a year (1987) than in the 
previous Christmas-season quarter. 

What's more, the company has begun 
to pick up revenue from non- 1-2-3 
sources — graphics, financial services 
software, service, and even Lotus maga- 
zine. Some of it even the recurring kind 
that makes life so nice for companies 
used to selling to first-time buyers. 

.Although I've worried aloud before 
whether or not Lotus could break the 
yoke of single-product status before the 
product ran out of steam. I think now 
most of those worries are over. The 
company has found a way to keep 
growing at 38 percent a year when 
hardware shipments are at less than 10 
percent — and the company has the 
wherewithal to acquire more product. 

John Gantz is editor of the Tech Street 
Journol, a newsletter on the high-tech 
stock market and business performance. 
The views expressed are his own. 



Now I think the thing for Lotus to 
worry about is whether it can manage its 
newly sprawling enterprise and maintain 
the chemistry' that allows it to defy 
rational analysis. 

I see a bizarre analogy possible with 
IBM — a company that grew mainly on 
the strength of a single product (the 360 
operating system) but then diversified 
into other areas (System/3, word 
processors. Series/ 1, etc.). It became 
successful, too. and suddenly had to 
devote an inordinate amount of money 



and effort to establishing interfaces 
between its various pscudopods. 

So that's what I'd worry about with 
Lotus: that its diversification efforts 
would be so successful that it suddenly 
would have to spend lots of time and 
eft'ort tying all its products together into a 
seamless whole. Just getting a mainframe 
1-2-3 to be internally consistent with a 
PC-based I -2-3 — and yet to work within 
the architectural constraints of the main- 
frame — will be tough enough. 

But I wouldn't worry- loo much. The 



market may not demand that seamless 
integration anytime soon. Until then. 
Lotus has the financial momentum and 
operating margins to keep it a star. It 
might even be a reasonable stock buy. It 
could quite possibly make $1.50 a share 
this year (accounting for February's 3-to- 
1 split) and. with a customary price- 
earnings ratio of 20 for a software 
company, be worth $30 or more — 
about what it's selling for. It's possible to 
buy into Lotus now on more than just 
faith or emotion. 



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INFO 
WORLD 



Tech Talk 

By Steve Gibson 



Future Multitasking Operating Systems to Take Control of Task Execution 



Last week we began discussing some 
fundamental notions of modem memory 
management. We saw that operating 
systems have always acted as our sys- 
tems' resource managers and that RAM 
memory is increasingly regarded as a 
prized resource worthy of the operating 
system's sophisticated management. We 
also saw that a system's memory re- 
sources are growing increasingly homo- 
geneous. Let's continue exploring these 
ideas. 

As the operating system's responsi- 



bilities have expanded to include the 
management of all memory resources, 
the application programs running "un- 
der" the supervision of the OS have lost 
this control and management. This 
means that a running application must 
now request RAM access from the 
operating system. In essence it says: "I'm 
going to be needing about 256K for the 
next few minutes. Can you spare it?" 

The operating system looks out over 
its landscape of memory resources to see 
how this application's request can best be 



fulfilled. If such a block of free RAM 
exists, the operating system is able to 
easily grant the application's request. It 
upxiates some internal memory manage- 
ment tables, to reflect that this applica- 
tion now "owns" this region of RAM 
memory, then responds afTirmatively to 
the request, granting the application 
access to the designated region. 

If no sufficiently large single lump of 
memory is available, the operating sys- 
tem would instead return a denial to the 
application, typically informing it of the 



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Get the special LifeLink redemp- 
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1987 and November 30, 1987. And make 
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For every ten boards you buy, 
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So get in on The Great LAN 
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JUNIVATION 





size of the largest amount of memory it 
ioiiltl have. 

If the application is not able to operate 
within the amount of memory available, 
it generally issues an insufficient memory 
error message to the user and terminates 
somewhat gracefully. Or. if the applica- 
tion is sufficiently flexible, it might be 
able to operate within available memory 
constraints, in which case it would adjust 
itself as necessary and request the 
amount of memory the operating system 
indicated it could have. 

This is exactly how things function in 
PC-/MS-DOS. However, an exciting 
alternative awaits applications running in 
tomorrow's next-generation multitasking 
operating systems. 

In multitasking systems the operating 
system determines which application is 
actively running at any given moment. 
This process of managing the execution 
of various tasks is called scheduling. The 
operating system is said to "schedule" 
the execution of multiple tasks from 
among those hoping to run. 

If in such a system, the currently 
running task makes a request for addi- 
tional memory that the operating system 
wants to fulfill but which can't be met 
from the pool of currently available 
RAM. the operating system has the 
option of making more RAM available. 
It can choose to temporarily move an 
inactive task's RAM allotment to some 
other location, thus freeing the RAM that 
was being used. This notion of shuffling 
RAM around is called swapping. 

A system's hard disk is typically used 
as the "swapping device" since it's 
usually large and reasonably fast. The 
operating system creates a temporary file 
that holds the "swapped out" RAM data, 
while the space previously occupied by 
the data is being used for other purposes. 

Such a scheme is able to create virliial 
memory since applications can be 
completely sheltered from needing to 
know or caring how much real RAM the 
system has. The system can appear to 
have as much RAM as the sum of all 
available memory resources. 

One final subtlety of this scheme is 
worth highlighting. It's even possible for 
the currently running application to ask 
for a single large block of RAM that is 
larger than the system's entire RAM. 
Advanced architecture microprocessors 
like the 80286 and 80.186 have memory 
management units built-in. which can 
signal the operating system when an 
application attempts to access various 
regions of this "virtual" memory space. 

An attempt to access RAM that is 
currently "swapiied out" would create a 
"memory access exception interrupt." 
which brings this application's access 
attempt to the attention of the operating 
system. The OS can then swap in from 
the disk the block of "RAM" that 
contains this address and only then allow 
the application to proceed. 

I don't need to tell you that this all gets 
pretty complicated very fast and is more 
than just a little bit tricky. This is just 
part of what Microsoft is trying to get 
working within OS/2. 

Steve Gibson is the developer and 
publisher of Flicker Free and president ol 
Gibson Research Corp. ol Irvine, 
Colilornia. The views expressed are his 
own. 



INFO 
WORLD 



Management: 



47 

SEPTIMBEIt 21, 1987 



Resources 



S<pl*iiifa*r 2 1 -23, Htw York: 

Product exhibitionsandtwo 
days of tutorial sessions 
constitute "CD-ROM 
Expo." an applications-ori- 
ented conference sponsored 
by CD ROM Rcvicn and 
Link ResourcesCorp. Call: 
(617)879-0700. Location; 
Roosevelt Hotel. Registra- 
tion fee: $690. 

Saptcinbcr 28-30, San Francisco: 

"Consulting Skills fonhc IC 
Professional" deals with the 
problems in delivering un- 
derstandable technical infor- 
mation to the business 
community. Call: (603)625- 
4164. Location: Cathedral 
Hill Hotel. Registration fee: 
$795. 

Odobor 5-7, Borkoloy, U: The 

new developments and key 
issues facing computer man- 
agers in the area of data se- 
curity will be cov ered in the 
course "Computer Security 
Technology and Tech- 
niques." Call: (4 1 5) 642- 
4151. Location: University 
of California at Berkeley. 
Registration fee: $625. 

October 8, Mow York: "IBM at 
the Crossroads: Rebuilding 
for the Future" is the topic 
of the first IBM Executive 
Forum, sponsored by Inter- 
national Data Corp. The 
day-long series will address 
issuessurrounding IBM's f)o- 
sition in the marketplace. 
Call: (6 1 7) 872-8200. Loca- 
tion: Grand Hyatt. Registra- 
tion fee: $595. 

Ocfohor 1 1 - 1 4, Canbridgo, MA: 

"Exploring New Frontiers in 
Software" is the theme of the 
Software Publishers Associa- 
tion Conference. Speeches 
by key industry figures and 
new product introductions 
will be included. Call: (202) 
452-1600. Location: Marri- 
ott Hotel. Registration fee: 
$450, SPA member, $725. 
nonmembcr. 

October 19-21, Cambridge, MA: 

The Hammer Information 
SystemsConference w ill fo- 
cus on finding the routes to 
success in implementing 
strategic technology in the 
corporate marketplace. Call: 
(61 7).'!54-5555. Location: 
Cambridge Center Marriott. 
Registration fee: $ 1 .095. 

— Carol Czyzc^ski 

Info World welcomes notices 
of nalionol conferences, 
trade shows, and meeting 
schedules of professional 
data processing, MIS, infor- 
mation center, and microcom- 
puter management 
associations or support 
groups. Send notices to Re- 
sources, InfoWorld, / 060 
Marsh Road, Suite C-200, 
Menio Park, CA 94025. No 
local training or education 
seminars, please. 



' TRAINING 



Mac Packages Help Users Learn More, MS-Works 



By Daniel Sommer 

Training packages for More 
and MS-Works are now 
available from a company that 
designs exclusively for the Mac- 
intosh market. 

Personal Training Systems' 
Learnmore series, announced at 
the Seybold Desktop Publishing 
Conference here, comprises 
three training modules for Liv- 
ing Videotext's integrated pro- 
cessor/presenter for the Macin- 
tosh. The series allows users to 
learn the program at their own 
speed while using their software, 
listening to an audio lape. work- 
ing with a practice disk, and 
referring to a summao' card as a 
memon aid. the company said. 

"People seem to learn fastest 
when learning from an experi- 
enced software user who lets 



them work on the actual appli- 
cation." said Personal Training 
Systems" president, Susan Bar- 
ton. "We created a tutorial prod- 
uct based on the notion of a 
software tutor to help people 
learn Macintosh business appli- 
cations quickly and easily." 

The first module. The Out- 
liner, is for novices and explains 
document windows, file export, 
and changing defaults. The sec- 
ond. Bullet & Tree Charts, 
assumes know ledge of the out- 
liner portion of the program and 
covers creating single- and mul- 
tiple-level charts and special 
effects and making slide presen- 
tations. The third. Tips & Tem- 
plates, is for advanced users and 
offers instruction on pattern 
matching, cloning headlines. 



and sorting. The module also 
ofl'ers techniques on maximiz- 
ing the program features, in- 
cluding handling graphics win- 
dows, performing calculations, 
printing in color, and dealing 
with templates, according to 
Personal Training Systems. 

Another new package is Mas- 
ter Works, a training series for 
the spreadsheet-database Mi- 
crosoft Works. The system con- 
sists of three modules, two for 
the database function and one 
for the spreadsheet portion of 
the program. 

The first. Database & Form 
Letters, teaches beginners how 
to create and modify fields and 
create and print form letters and 
mailing labels. The second. Ad- 
vanced Database, is designed for 



those familiar with database 
construction and u.se. It shows 
how to format and calculate 
fields, design reports, and use 
shortcuts. The third module. 
Beginning Spreadsheets, pro- 
vides an introduction and 
teaches how to create, print, and 
sort, the company said. 

The audio tape has an in- 
structor who talks users through 
each lesson, and users practice 
skills as they are introduced, the 
firm said. The system requires a 
cassette player, a Macintosh, 
and More. Each mixlule costs 
$49.95 and contains 90 minutes 
of training. A .10-day money- 
back guarantee is offered. 

Personal Training Svstems. 
P.O. Box 54240, San Jose, CA 
95154: (408)559-86.15. 



MEASURING EFFICIENCY 



CEOs Require Productivity Gains to Justify PC Costs 



By Daniel Sommer 

Information center managers 
are under the gun to prove 
that personal computers are 
providing productivity gains to 
justify their expense, according 
to a management survey. 

The End-User Productivity 
Survey provides an analysis of 
major user applications and 
elTiciency gains, critical hard- 



ware/software support issues, 
expansion projections, and ma- 
jor improvement opportunities, 
according to Brustel Research, a 
firm that examines computer 
user productivity and support 
issues. 

"Chief executives officers arc 
asking tough justification ques- 
tions about current productivity 



Service Converts Design 
Drawings Into CAD Format 



By Daniel Sommer 

A new service can now convert 
manually created engineering 
drawings into an electronic for- 
mat for use in CAD systems. 

The CAD-Scanning service 
from Weyerhaeuser Informa- 
tion Systems is designed for 
companies that need to enter 
their inventories of manual 
drawings into CAD systems for 
future use and modification. 

The service converts 
diawings faster than manual 
methods and at a savings of 40 
to 60 percent, according to WIS. 
lintcring a draw ing by hand can 
take up to 12 hours, but with 
CAD-Scanncr. the time can be 
reduced by one-third, the com- 
pany said. 

"For companies with thou- 
sands of line drawings in in\en- 
tors'. the task of conversion can 
be far too time-consuming and 
labor-intensive to handle 
alone." said Richard Jones, 
manager of CAD-Scanning for 
Weyerhaeuser. 

"We understand that engi- 
neering departments need a way 
of scanning in design drawings 
that are now just sitting in 



drawers. And that method must 
be both high quality and af- 
fordable." Jones said. 

The service uses an Opti- 
graphics }000 Scanning System 
and can translate a document 
directly into file formats for 
many CAD systems, including 
Autodesk's .Autocad. according 
to Weyerhaeuser. For other ven- 
dors, the company turns the 
drawings into the International 
Graphics Exchange Standard 
format. 

After scanning, each drawing 
is reviewed, edited, and proof- 
read to ensure correct elements, 
including line widths, geom- 
etries, and text sizes, the compa- 
ny said. The service can also be 
used to customize extant docu- 
ments. 

The price of the service varies 
with complexity, volume, and 
time of delivery, fhere is a one- 
day plan for rush jobs as well as 
a 60-day. ongoing contract for 
reduced costs, the company 
said. 

Weyerhaeuser Information 
Svstems, CCB3. Tacoma. WA 
98477; (206) 924-4200. 



paybacks, as well as future 
hardware and software expendi- 
tures and anticipated benefits." 
said Gordon Frank, president of 
Brustel Research. 

Frank sees several factors 
contributing to increased execu- 
tive scrutiny of personal com- 
puter expenditures: 

• Rapid advances in PC tech- 
nology, software, and commu- 
nications are pushing spending 
higher while companies are try- 
ing to cut their budgets. 

• PC growth has occurred so 
quickly that firms are still learn- 
ing to integrate the machines 
effectively into existing data 
processing and communication 
networks. 

•Many PC users complain 
that technical support is inade- 



quate and that they cannot 
achieve expected gains in pro- 
ductivity. 

While information center 
managers can identify some 
paybacks, most do not have a 
standard mechanism for assess- 
ing improvements in perfor- 
mance and support in difl'erent 
functional areas, according to 
Frank. 

"In addition, management 
generally has not distinguished 
between the needs and impact of 
■power' users, whose work af- 
fects the success of a business, 
and standard users, who apply 
their systems to largely routine 
tasks." Frank said, 

Brustel Research. P.O. Box 
.130. New Milford. NJ 07646: 
(201)692-1.358. 



• MARKET GROWTH 



Forecast for Database Management 
Systems 1987- 1992 



MICRO □ MINI/DEPARTMENTAl 



MAIN 



SA.OOO.OOO.OOO 
12 15,000.000.000 
5 J4.OO0.O0O,O0O 

z 

5^ $3,000,000,000 
Ul 

oe 

1^ 12.000.000.000 
D 

tl.OOO.000.000 

so 



OVERAtL AVERAGE 
ANNUAL GROWTH 
RATE 22% 



SlSAOOAt* 




2,100,000^ 



M. 



1987 



1992 



The market for database management systems will grow from 
$2. 2 billion in 1 987 to $5. 8 billion in 1 992 at an average annual 
growth rate of 22 percent, according to the market research 
firm Input. The market for PC DBMS alone should grow at an 
average annual rate of 28 percent over the five-year period. 



48 

SEPTEMBEliSI, 1987 



Management 



INFO 
WORLD 



Apple Offers Training 
For Desktop Publishing 



By Daniel Sommer 

Apple has designed a program 
to ofTer Macintosh users inte- 
grated applications training for 
desktop publishing, the compa- 
ny said. 

The Apple Training Alliance 



(ATA) will be taught by Apple- 
selected third-party training 
companies and authorized Ap- 
ple dealers. The courses are 
intended to provide maximum 
productivity to Macintosh users 



by means of thorough instruc- 
tion in desktop publishing soft- 
ware capabilities, according to 
Apple. 

"Our goal is to maximize 
customer satisfaction," said Jer- 
ry Devlin, Apple's director of 
sales and support. "Some users 
grow accustomed to using a 
portion of the many functions in 
a given software package. They 
know there arc more capabili- 
ties, and the ATA program will 
help them use a total desktop 



publishing solution." 

Apple has already established 
alliances with one dealer and 
three training companies to sup- 
port Macintosh users. The 
initial members of ATA are 
Forhan and Wakefield Group 
Inc. of Wcstporl, Connecticut; 
Micro Mentor Inc. of Cam- 
bridge. Massachusetts: Institute 
for Advanced Technology, a 
division of Control Data Corp., 
in Minneapolis: and national 
marketer Businessland Inc.. ac- 



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The first applications include 
Aldus' Pagemaker 2.0, MS 
Word 3.01, MS Pbwerpoint 1.0. 
Silicon Beach Software's Super- 
paint 1.0. and Adobe's Illustra- 
tor 1.1. according to Apple. 

ATA courses will begin in 
October. Training prices will 
vary with length and customiza- 
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members, who will also be 
responsible for registration, 
classroom training, and follow- 
up support. Apple said. 

Apple Computer Inc.. 20525 
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VDT Handbook 
Offers Users 
Handy Advice 

By Daniel Sommer 

The issue of VDT health risks 
continues to crop up for PC and 
data processing managers. Fuel- 
ing the fire is the publication of a 
handbook offering advice to 
terminal users. 

(The Suffolk County (New 
York] Legislature recently pass- 
ed a bill that would set standards 
for VDTs ("Countv Legislature 
Passes Bill to Set' VDT Stan- 
dards." July 27) and require 
employers with 20 or more 
terminals to offer benefits for 
users. The bill was strongly 
opf)oscd by local business 
groups and was later vetoed by 
the county executive.) 

The I DT Bonk: .1 CompiiWr 
i.scr's Guide in lleullli and 
Safely offers practical tips on 
lessening or eliminating vision 
problems, stress, musculoskele- 
tal ailments, and other health 
risks of computer work. 

"Mounting evidence in the 
1980s points to widespread 
health elTects among computer 
users, and workers often have 
not been informed about poten- 
tial risks," said Joel Shufro. 
executive director of the New 
York Committee for Occupa- 
tional Safctv and Health 
(NYCOSH), the publisher of the 
book. "This book will help 
anyone who is concerned." 

The I DT Blink states that 
problem pregnancies, including 
miscarriages and fetal abnor- 
malities, among computer users 
may be related to VDTs or job 
stress. 

The book's author is Mark A. 
Pinskv. the founding editor of 
im Afiiv. ///(' 17)7 //('(////; 
and .Safely Report, an indepen- 
dent newsletter. The handtwok 
is 48 pages and includes chap- 
ters on reprtxiuctive risks, radia- 
tion, stress, vision, rashes, and 
ergonomics. It also offers guide- 
lines for purchasing VDTs. sam- 
ple collective bargaining lan- 
guage, and a resources section. 

The I DT Book costs $5 plus 
$1 for postage and handling. 

NYCOSH. 275 Seventh 
Ave.. 25th Floor, New York. 
NY lOOOi: (212) 627-3900. 



ilerial 



4? 

SEPHMBER 21, 1987 



A User's View 

By Jerry Pournelle 



Desktop Publishing Is Here to Stay, But the Details Still Need to Be Worked Out 



SANTA CLARA. CA — I'm no greal (an 
of buzz words, and "desktop publishing" 
is this season's catch phrase. But desktop 
publishing is here to stay — even it' few 
people agree on exactly what it is. 

Case in point; In the first week ol" 
September some 2.000 high-paid and 
busy people laid out $600 each to attend 
the Seybold Conference on Desktop 
Publishing. I'm sure each one of them 
has his or her own idea of what desktop 
publishing is all about, how to do it. and 
what to do with it when we learn how; 
but the computer industry is convinced 
there's a market out there already, and 
it's growing fast. 

In the first ten years of the computer 
revolution we created the word proces- 
sor. We've got good ones, and while some 
people are still holding out. most writing 
is now done with a computer. 

What's called desktop publishing has 
given us the "page processor. ' We can 
now make some pretty good pages. Not 
as good as the traditionalists can but 
better than good enough. 

The next stop is document processing, 
and we're not really there yet. It should 
be real soon, though. The harbingers 
have arrived; At the Seybold Conference 
I saw a laser-printed hardbound book 
that required bright light and a strong 
glass before I could tell it hadn't been set 
in cold type. 

The problem is that programs and 
systems that manage whole documents 
are not easy to come by. They work, but 
they're awkward to use: meaning it's 
unlikely that your desktop printing will 
be done or controlled by engineers or the 
people who create the words to be 
published, or even by some random 
employee as an adjunct to other duties. 

Controlling a desktop publishing sys- 
tem is complicated enough that it will 
probably occupy someone whose job is 
to do that and little else. Thus for some 
businesses, many expected savings may 
vanish before they're realized. 

On the other hand, for the small 
businessman who works 18 hours a day 
and hates to delegate, desktop publishing 
docs offer a low-effort way to create 
illustrated reports and sales materials 
without writing checks to outside suppli- 
ers — and that may be important. 

So presuming you want to get into 
desktop publishing, what's the best way? 

To start, Poumelle's First Law; If you 
don't know what you're doing, deal with 
people who do. In this case it's especially 
important. 

A corollary to this rule is that unless 
you're pretty smart, stick to standard 
systems that do things in a standard way. 
You may pay a bit more in the beginning, 
and your sophisticated technoweenie 
friends will laugh. So be it. You'll still get 
the job done, and you'll get it done faster 
than you would with a nonstandard 
system. 

Fme. So what are the "standard" 
systems? It's easy to answer that, provid- 
ed you know the ropes. Remember, 
desktop publishing is at bottom a way to 
make your computer communicate with 
a printer to produce a fairly complicated 
page; text laid out the way you want it 
and in the type fonts and sizes you like; 
diagrams and drawings set into the text; 
and the whole thing arranged in a way 
that pleases you (if no one else). 

That doesn't sound complicated, but 



in fact it is. Once you've built the image 
on the screen, how do you tell the piinter 
to change typefaces in the middle of a 
paragraph? To leave an irregular hole 
between two columns for the insertion of 
a diagram? To write fractions, insert 
scientific and mathematical symbols, 
and use the whole panoply of graphics 
and typological devices? You could send 
your printer the odd escape sequences 
that. say. a standard HP Laserjet Plus 
needs in order to change from one font to 
another; but if you do that more than a 
dozen times, you'll be so exhausted you'll 
go back to hiring the job out. 

In other words, we need a page 
description language — something that 
we can use. that our printers understand, 
and that ideally is as independent of the 
hardware as possible. There arc in fact 
several such languages, including 
Imagen's DDL (Document Design Lan- 
guage) and HP's PCL (Printer Control 
Language). For a while it wasn't certain 
which one would become the standard. 



Is Adobe Systems' 
Postscript worth it? 
In my ju(dgment, 
yes — with one 
low-end 
exception. 



but now there's a clear winner. Like it or 
not. Adobe Systems' Postscript has 
become the de facto page description 
language and is likely to be for some time 
to come. 

Postscript was written by John War- 
nock and Charles Geschke, cofounders of 
Adobe Systems Inc., and introduced at a 
Seybold conference in 1984. When War- 
nock and Geschke published their lan- 
guage, they explicitly said it would be 
"public domain." That, under U.S. 
copyright law. is an irrevocable decision. 
However, the actual documents describ- 
ing the language — the so-called "Red 
Book" — are copyrighted, a fact that has 
raised some fears among competitors 
who want to bring out products that 
often are known by the rather silly name 
of "Postscript clones" (which is like 
calling a new Fortran compiler a 
"Fortran clone"). 

Adobe Systems licenses printer manu- 
facturers to incorporate the Adobe im- 
plementation of Postscript in their 
machines, charging royalties on each 
printer made. Whether those charges are 
excessive is a raging controversy in the 
computer industry. (Mannesman-Talley. 
for example, has declined to pay and is 
try ing a different approach by wooing the 
makers of Postscript clones.) 

Adobe doesn't publish its royalty 
schedule, but it's not that hard to come 
by. If you sell 1.500 printers per month, 
Adobe will charge you about $200 for 
each printer. If you sell 3,000, it's $100: 
and if you sell a lot more than that, the 
royalty falls dramatically. 

The license includes not only the 
Adobe implementation of Postscript, but 



the right to use a family of type fonts 
known as the "Adobe fonts." This right 
goes w ith the printer, so the end-user can 
produce books set in Times Roman or 
another irademarked font without fear of 
being sued by the font owner. 

In addition to the royalty for the use of 
the Adobe implementation of Postscript, 
there's the cost of ROMs and their 
actuators. These parts, including the 
unpopulated board, cost $.350. Thus a 
printer manufacturer who wants to stay 
Adobe Postscript-compatible will pay 
from $450 to $650 per printer, on up to 
$800 or more, depending on how many 
printers he sells. Since printer people are 
in business to make a profit, ihey don't 
pay that; you do. 

Is it worth it? In my judgment, yes — 
with one low-end exception. There are 
printers that use your Macintosh to do 
the actual print formatting. These 
"dumb printers" cost from one to several 
thousand dollars less than a printer that 
knows Postscript. The quality isn't bad. 
and if you're not doing ver> fancy things, 
it may be good enough. 

Otherwise, go with Postscript. 

Naturally not everyone in the industry 
agrees. Charlie Ying. coinventor of the 
Atex system (with which InfoW'orld is 
produced) says that in a couple of years 
Postscript will be considered no more 
than a bad Polish joke. (Most users will 
never need to know this, but the 
calculations within the Postscript lan- 
guage — as opposed to the interpreter 
and implementations — are done in 
Reverse Polish Notation.) Charlie Ying is 
worth listening to, but he's vastly out- 
numbered by others whose views are just 
as respected. 

Now. about fonts. Under U.S. law. 
any type font that is more than 1 5 years 
old can legally be copied and implement- 
ed by anyone who cares to take the 
trouble to do it. On the other hand, many 
font names have been trademarked, and 
those trademarks stay in effect much 
longer. Thus Times Roman, commis- 
sioned by the London 7'/;)K'i in 1 93 1 . can 
be used by anyone: but if you want to lall 
it Times Roman, you have to pay 
royalties to the Linotype Company. 

Until recently, if you wanted to be 
Adobe compatible you had no choice but 
to go with the Adobe fonts; and while 
Adobe offered a reasonable variety, there 
weren't as many as one might have liked. 

That's changed now. The Bitstream 
Company has taken the outlines of many 
famous and popular typefaces directly 
from existing documents (or in some 
cases from the designer's notebooks) and 
turned them into computer-readable 
instructions that are compatible with 
Adobe Postscript. 

The Bitstream fonts are not only 
Adobe Postscript compatible, they also 
preserve the width metrics used by 
Adobe, so that if you buy a Bitstream 
font you can convert your document to it 
without fear that your page layouts will 
suffer any drastic changes. 

Of course, once we establish that we 
need Adobe Postscript-compatibility, we 
still have a lot of choices: for instance, do 
we want MS-DOS or a Macintosh sys- 
tem? 

That. alas. I can't answer. Macintosh 
desktop publishing systems, like most 
everything else in the Mac world, are 
easier to learn than their MS-[X)S 



counterparts Whether they're easier to 
Kvcis. of course, another question. 1 don't 
much care to get into religious debates. 

The bottom line is that "desktop 
publishing" is one more capability your 
computer — MS-DOS or Mac — can 
give you. provided you have the right 
software and the right printer. The capa- 
bility grows exponentially as you use it. 

Jerry Pournelle is a noted science fiction 
writer and computer columnist. The views 
expressed are his own. 



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A Capil:al View 

By Jerry Schneider 



The Real Impact of OS/2 Will Probably Be on Future Software Development 



In my last column. I talked about some 
of the confusion among users concerning 
Operating System/2. This week. I would 
like to expand upon that discussion. 

Who should use OS/2? Any discussion 
of OS/2 should first address the mini- 
mum system requirements necessary to 
run the software. OS/2 requires an 
80286- or 80.186-based microcomputer 
with a minimum of 2 megabytes of 
RAM. If you want to use the DOS 
emulation facilities of real mode, a 
minimum of 2.5 megabytes of RAM is 



required. As you can see. these "mini- 
mum" system requirements are quite 
excessive by today's standards. 

This means that OS/2 will not run on 
the more than 9 million 8088- and 8086- 
bascd PC's in use today, unless those 
machines are refitted with replacement 
microprocessors and memory. 

A second important point, which can 
not be understated, is that OS/2 is not a 
replacement operating system for DOS. 
It is an operating system designed for 
users who have a real need to take 



advantage of some of the ad\anccd 
features and capabilities of the 80286 and 
80386 microprocessors. I he most prom- 
inent of these features are multitasking 
(running multiple applications concur- 
rently) and the use of virtual memory . 

The multitasking and virtual memory 
capabilities under OS/2 are only provid- 
ed in protected mode. This means that 
any software that is to use these features 
»?ii(v/ be specifically written to access 
protected mode. 

While existing software will run under 




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OS/2 in real mode (what is often called 
the DOS compatibility box), thai soft- 
ware aiiiiiol utilize any of the protected 
mode features, including multitasking or 
virtual memory. 

It is importanl. then, to understand 
that OS/2 will not provide any benefit to 
existing software! If your future comput- 
ing needs will only include existing 
software applications, then you should 
not consider using OS/2. 

Many software publishers have indi- 
cated that an OS/2 version of their 
product will be available almost immedi- 
ately upon release of OS/2. While this 
may be true. I believe that most early 
applications identified as "supporting 
OS/2" will simply be versions that are 
ported from DOS. While such software 
will run under protected mode and can 
therefore be multitasked. it will not be 
able to lake specific advantage of the 
many features of the 80286 and OS/2. 

If you have an immediate need to 
multitask your existing applications and 
do not want to do it under DOS (using 
Desqview. for instance), then you may 
want to be an early user of OS/2. For the 
majority of users, however. 1 would have 
to recommend against converting to OS/ 
2 just to run ported application software. 

Does this mean lhat OS/2 is of no 
value? Absolutely not! OS/2 is a signifi- 
cant product and will be a key compo- 
nent in our computing future. As is often 
emphasized by Microsoft and others. 
OS/2 provides a foundation for the next 
generation of microcomputing. 

Although OS/2 provides negligible 
benefits for users of existing or ported 
software, it provides software developers 
with the tools necessary to design the 
software applications of the future. These 
future applications should have a pro- 
found effect on how computers are used 
— and by whom — in Ihe future. 

Most software developers are already 
hard at work designing the next gener- 
ation of products that will take full 
advantage of OS/2 and the 80286 and 
80386 microprocessors. 

I would expect that the impact of true 
OS/2-capable applications could be as 
significant to the industry as Lotus 1-2-3 
when it was first introduced in 1983. As 
you may recall, even though the 8088- 
based microcomputer had been intro- 
duced in 1981. 1-2-3 was the first 
application to take specific advantage of 
the features and capabilities of the 16-bit 
microprocessor. The technology intro- 
duced with 1-2-3 has since revolutionized 
our industry. 

The next revolution is already under- 
way in the research and development 
labs of most software developers. Bv the 
end of 1988, the first of these true 6s/2- 
capable applications should begin ap- 
pearing. Once thev do. watch out! 

Who should use OS/2? When should 
you convert to OS/2? In my view, the 
time to consider OS/2 is when true OS/2- 
capable applications are available. When 
one of these new applications includes 
features that you must have and that 
software says "OS/2 required." then the 
time has come for you to make the 
transition. Until then, the best advice I 
can give is to wait and see. 

Jerry Schneider is an industry analyst and 
president of ihe Capital PC User Croup. 
The views expressed are his own. 



Cl 



,1 



IIMFO 
WORLD 



51 

SEPnMKRll, 1917 



INFO 



WORLD 



^Evvs 



JONATHAN SACKS 

Edilorin-Chiol 

J. MICHAEL LOWE 

Eddof 
Monoqinq Editor 
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To t:he Editor 



MACINTOSH ZEALOTRY 

I write with a coinment on William F. 
Zachmann's column (On the Hori- 
zon) in the August 24/31 issue. The 
title, " rhe View From Planet Mac- 
world; Perhaps It's Time for Apple to 
Grow Up." says it all. It is. indeed, 
time for Apple and Apple Mac users 
to grow up. 

While the Mac does quite a few 
admirable things (Pd gladly own one 
to play with if they were priced 
reasonably), you can get just as much 
done with a plain old PC clone. Here 
at a small college whose computer 
department has chosen the Mac as the 
machine for faculty and students, one 
is increasingly confronted with docu- 
ments whose authors have put more 
time into tiresome formatting than 
into the content of the text itself 

lama member of a computer book 
club in whose advertising the follow- 
ing was found. I offer it as evidence 
that Zachmann speaks none too soon: 
"/.en and the Art of the Macinlash by 
Michael Green. A unique account of 
one man's journey through the world 
of the Macintosh — a testament to the 
advanced graphics capabilities that 
can lead, he maintains, to 'computer 
enlightenment.' " 

Computer enlightenment for the 
rest of us? C'mon guys, it's just a tool! 

Joseph T. Malloy 
Assistant Professor of German 
Hamilton College 
Clinton. NY 

I read with great interest Mr. 
Zachmann's column concerning, to 
use his words. "Mac Zealots." I have 
used the Macintosh since shortly after 
its introduction several years ago. I 
have also used and continue to use 
other types of personal computers, 
including MS-DOS machines. Due to 
my personal preferences and the 
various capabilities of these comput- 
ers. I choose to use the Macintosh as 
the primary tool in performing my 
work. I would also classify myself as a 
Macintosh enthusiast as I use it for 
applications other than business. 
However. I do resent your implication 
that those of us who choose the Mac 
are some sort of fanatics. 

Rjrhaps some of the derision that 
MS-DOS users feel directed toward 
them is due to the fact that the Mac 
was ridiculed as a toy with little or no 
utility in business applications. I 
remember being told by MS-DOS 
zealots that I needed to get a "real" 
computer before I could realize any 
gains in productivity. 

Well now it seems the tables have 
turned. IBM has finally figured out 
that users want personal computers to 
do more than simply display rows and 
columns of numbers: they need high- 
quality graphics that can be translated 
to the printed page. 

While I am positive that Apple is 
striving hard to gain greater corporate 
acceptance of its equipment, I am also 



positive that Apple does not sincerely 
think it is going to reduce IBM and 
compatible technologies to a second- 
ary status in the corporate market. 

It has been my experience that Mac 
users are business users — not just 
hobbyists. They are not the hierarchi- 
cal, miscellaneous functionaries that 
are so common in corporate America. 
They are the business people who are 
blazing trails and achieving innova- 
tions in their fields. Consequently, 
many of the faceless functionaries feel 
threatened bv people who are more 
accomplished at function rather than 
form. Therefore, if the enthusiasm of 
Mac users whithers your pinstripes, 
perhaps you should do something to 
improve your MS-DOS machines. 

Dean B. Kelker 
Real Estate Appraisal and Consultation 
Lakewood. OH 

The On the Horizon column of 
August 24 prompts me to respond. 
Although I am an Apple advocate. I 
also have 20 years' experience as a 
software developer, including consid- 
erable time spent in the Unix and MS- 
DOS worids. I am one of many Mac 
developers struggling to create Mac- 
like programs under Microsoft 
Windows. 

Mr. Zachmann's religious analo- 
gies interest me. I agree that Apple has 
overdone its evangelical preachings, 
but I also believe that the IBM PC- 
compatible world has its own righ- 
teous followers. Did you ever stop to 
count the number of applications that 
the average business user of PC 
compatibles knows well? I am 
constantly amazed that so many 
people u,se so few applications simply 
because they are unwilling or afraid to 
learn new ones. Hach PC program is so 
different and requires memorizing so 
many new key sequences that most 
users stick with what they know. 

So what happens? These people 
become evangelists of a few programs, 
not because they are the best pro- 
grams around, but because they're the 
ones they happen to know and the 
ones, therefore, that they think every- 
one else should know. They also 
become defensive of their machines. 
Asking them to try a Mac is like asking 
them to change churches. 

So now we have IBM and Micro- 
soft telling these users to switch 
religions and use the "soon to be 
released" Presentation Manager. But 
will this new religion be accepted in 
the IBM worid? It's hard to tell. Can 
the PC user community be convened 
to a windows system? There's no 
reason to believe that it will be 
accepted any more than MS-Windows 
is today. Most users will be confused 
and will rush through the Presentation 
Manager to the comfortable world of 
their known applications. They prob- 
ably will not use the Presentation 
Manager unless software developers 
force them to use it. 



But why switch? Is it because the 
PC user is being told that the com- 
mand line paradigm was a mistake? 
No. it's because IBM and Microsoft 
decided that the Maclikc MS-Win- 
dows environment was a better envi- 
ronment for most users. But is it? Was 
Apple right all along? Maybe, but 
that's not the point. The missing 
element is that Apple chose that 
environment before any applications 
existed for the Mac and told 
developers how programs they wrote 
for the Mac should look and feel. 

Apple had a distinct advantage in 
1984. It provided a new machine and 
a new user interface at the same time. 
The developers started together and 
with Apple's guidance prtxluced a 
cohesive set of applications for users. 
Apple's guidelines were so successful 
that the typical Mac user never opens 
the manual until he has tried out a 
new program. It would be interesting 
to see how many programs the 
average Mac user has in repertoire vs. 
the average PC user. I think you can 
guess the results. Mac users dare to try 
new programs because they're not 
afraid of a little incremental learning. 

While the PC-compatible world 
spends its time try ing to create a better 
environment for developers (OS/2), 
trying to compensate for the lack of 
contiguous address space (EMS 4.0). 
and trying to add a Maclike user 
interface (Presentation Manager). Ap- 
ple software developers do what 
they're supposed to do. They write 
new applications for users. PC users 
will continue to suffer for many more 
years for the design mistakes made in 
the choice of a segmented architecture 
and an operating system designed for 
hackers. PC developers would better 
spend their time developing a 68000 
coprocessor to run Mac applications. 
By the time they have changed their 
religion and learned some new hymns. 
Apple will be too far ahead to catch. 

Alan W. Hayes 
Eliot Software Co. 

Eliot. ME 



CORRECTIONS 

In a photograph of a Seybold graphics 
panel (September 14), we incorrectly 
identified one of the speakers. The 
panelist at left in the photo is Derragh 
Muldoon of Cricket Softw are. 

In the article "Atrium Unveils 
Micro Resource Manager LAN" (Sep- 
tember 7). we listed incorrect prices. 
Prices begin at $4,565. A three-user 
version costs $5,695, and a 15-user 
version costs $7, 195. 

Please write to letters. InloWorld, 
l060Marsft Road, Suite C-200. Menlo 
Park, CA 94025 (Compuserve-. 
73267, 1537; The Source: TCX939; or 
MCI Mail: 259-41271. Include your 
name, address, and daytime telephone 
number, tellers selected for publication 
will be edited for length and clarity. 



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Communicotions publishes Over 80 contpuler publications in more than 28 tnojor countries Fourteen million people read one 
or more IDG Communications publications each month. IDG Comntunicolions publicotions contribute to tfte IDG Internotiotsal 
News Service offering the latest on domestic ond internotional compute* news. lOG Ccxtimuftications publications include: 
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ELT 386 



At ELTECH 

the ditference 
is we offer you what 
you need, while others 
try to sell you what they have. 



Base S7Stem: 

Teac 1.2MB floppy, HD/FD controller, case, power supply and 
regular AT keyboard, tull documentation, and 96 hours bum- 
in (enhanced keyboard optional). 



CoU 



ELT 286-10 Plus 

Base system. 80286 CPU. zero wait state, 10 MHz, 512K on 
motherboard expandable to 1MB. 2 serial and 1 parallel port. 



ELT 386 Systems 

ELT 386-20B Plus 



$1075 



$2500 



ELT 286-lOB Plus 

XT size base system. 80286 CPU, zero wait state, 10 MHz. 512K 
on motherboard expandable to 1MB, baby AT case. 



XT size base system. 80386 CPU. zero wait state. 20 MHz with 
1MB memory on a 32-blt memory extension board 
expandable to 2MB. baby AT case. 



$1125 



$2100 



ELT 386-16B Plus 

XT size base system, 80386 CPU, zero wait state, 16 MHz with 
1MB memory on a 32-bit memory extension board 
expandable to 2MB, baby AT case. 



ELT 286-10 

Base system, 80286 CPU, one wait state, 10 MHz. 512K on 
motherboard expandable to 1MB. 

ELT 286-8 $995 

Base system. 80286 CPU. one wait slate. 8 MHz, 512K on 
motherboard expandable to 1MB. 



$2450 



ELT 386 

Base system with Intel 386 motherboard. 80386 CPU. one wait 
state, 16 MHz, 512K, one serial and one parallel. UL approved 
system. 

ELT 286 System 

ELT 286-12B Plus CaU 

XT size base system. 80286 CPU, zero wait state, 12 MHz, 1MB 
on motherboard, baby AT case. 



ELT XT-Tuibo Systems 



$499 



ELT XT-Tuibo Plus 

8088-1 CPU. zero wait state. 10 MHz. 640K on motherboard. 
360K floppy, floppy controUer. UL approved power supply, 
baby AT case and keyboard. 



$459 



ELT XT-Tuzbo 

8088-2 CPU. one wait state, 4.77/8 MHz, same configuration as 
ELT-XT Turbo Plus System. 



Ci.i 




Haxd Diive Subsystem 

ST225 + controller (20MB, 65 ms) 
ST238 + RLL controller 
(30MB, 65 ms) 

ST251 drive only (40MB, 40 ms) 

ST4038 drive only (30MB. 39 ms) 
Micropwlis 40MB drive only 
(40MB, 28 ms) 

Mlcropolis 72MB dnve only 
(72MB, 28 ms) 

Floppy 

360K Fuiltsu 5 1/4" floppy 
360K Teac 5 1/4" floppy 
1.2MB Teac 5 1/4" floppy 
1.44MB Teac 3 1/2 " floppy 
w/mountlng kit 

720K Toshiba 3 1/2 ' floppy 

w/mounting kit 

AT HD/FD controller 

w/extemal floppy port 

External box for 3 1/2" floppy drive 

Everex Modems 

Internal and External 

Eveiez Tape backups 

Internal: 

40MB Floppy tape backup 
60MB cassette tape backup 
60MB streaming tape backup 
125MB streaming tape backup 

External: 

60MB cassette tape backup 
60MB streaming 
tape backup QIC 36 

125MB streaming 
tape backup 

Graphic Cards 

MonograpWcs card 
Evergraphics Plus Deluxe 
(1024 X 350) 

Color Card 

EGA card w/Printer port 
(640 X 480) 



$295 

$310 
$425 
$495 

$659 
$919 

$79 
$89 
$119 

$179 

$129 

$185 
$85 

CcOl 



$580 
$650 
CaU 
$1195 

$690 
Call 
CaU 

$59 

$128 
$70 



Add-On boards 

XT EMS board, expandable 

to 2MB w/OK $109 

AT EMS board expandable 

to 3MB, w/OK $139 

XT MulUlunction EMS w/ OK, 1 parallel and 
serial port, clock and calendar, 
expandable to 1MB. $159 

AT Multifunction EMS w/ OK, 

1 serial and parallel port. 

expandable to 1MB. $155 

XT/AT I/O card $69 

Motherboards 

XT 4.77/8 MHz. 2 layer, w/OK 

expandable to 640K $ 1 1 5 

XT 4.77/8 MHz, 4 layer, w/OK 

expandable to 640K $135 

AT 1 wait state, 6/10 MHz w/OK 

expandable to 1MB $370 

ELT 286B, baby board, zero wait state 

6/10 MHz expandable to 1MB $330 

Baby 386, zero wait state, 16 MHz 

w/lMB expandable to 2MB $1500 

Baby 386, zero wait state, 20 MHz, 

w/lMB expandable to 2MB $2035 

Monitors 

Samsung amber 12" amber $85 
Samsung color $285 
Nanao 8040 14" super CGA 
(800 X 410) + card $495 
Nanao 8042 14" EGA $450 
Casper 14" EGA $415 
NEC Multisync 

(800 X 560, .31mm dot pitch) $570 

Nanao 8060H PGA Multiscan 

(820 X 620, .31mm dot pitch) $540 

Nanao 8060S PGA Multiscan 

(820 X 620, .28mm dot pitch) $575 

Printers 

Citizen 120D printer $195 

Epson FX86e printer $415 

Epson FX286e printer $555 

Call 



Others 

80387-16 (16 MHz) S565 

80287-10 (10 MHz) » $285 

80287-8 (8 MHz) $235 

MS DOS 3. 2 1/GW Basic $85 

PC DOS 3.3 $139 

New Product Lines 

IBM PS/2 compatibles 

RAM 2000 PS w/OK 

expandable to 2MB $245 
RAM 4000 PS w/OK 

expandable to 4MB $270 

PS Extemal 60MB cassette 

tape backup $935 

PS Extemal 60MB 

streaming tape backup $1185 
PS Extemal 125MB 

streaming tape backup $1495 

Apple EMAC compatibles 

Extemal ST225 20MB hard disk $595 
Extemal ST25 1 40MB hard disk $ 1 1 15 



Eltech Research, Inc. 

ttT\ 1725 McCandless Drive 




\ 

MUpltas. Calllomla 95035 



Cou Laser Printer 



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WORLD 



55 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



Product: Comparison 



Presentahon Graphics 




BY RICK LONG, REVIEW BOARD 



Graphics on the IBM PC were once 
a pretty straightforward issue. The 
PC. with its low-resolution CGA 
color monitor, wasn't much of a 
graphics engine. So graphics pack- 
ages tended to specialize: There were charting packages 
that converted data into bar charts; enhancement 
programs that improved on Lotus 1-2-3's 
unimaginative graphics: and painting and drawing 
systems for artists who didn't mind working in crayon- 
level resolutions. But what were you supposed to do 
with your pie chart once you'd perked it up with cyan 
and magenta? Carry the monitor into the boardroom? 

EGA changed a lot of that. So did faster computers, 
which were finally able to draw something on the screen 
within your lifetime. Desktop publishing and other 
programs capable of integrating graphics have also 
boosted interest in sophisticated graphics programs. 
Output devices have grown in power while dropping in 
price. 

So now presentation graphics is a market exploding 
with choices, but — unlike other software categories — 
the field has no clear market leader to offer conservative 
customers the safe buy. There are more product types 
than ever before, and they are being combined in 
various ways into integrated graphics programs. 

At the moment — and don't hold us to this si,\ 
months from now — there are five presentation 
graphics tools you'll find most commonly available: 

Charting programi turn data into charts. They can 
usually import data from spreadsheet files or allow you 
to type in the numbers; they then generate any of a 
variety of charts, plots, and graphs. They emphasize 
their ability to handle large numbers of data points, and 
they provide many chart types; some include calcula- 
tion capabilities. A popular feature is the capability to 
produce word charts, or slides that consist entirely of 
words. 

EnlMiKainairt programs take a prc-c.xisting graphic — 
such as a 1-2-3 graphic file — and let you enhance it 
with greater control over colors, finer resolutions, and 
often clip-art symbols libraries. A recent development is 
the memory-resident screen capture utility that lets you 
enhance a screen from virtually any program. Also new 
(and dazzling) are three-dimensional graphics. 

Point pcKkogcs offer freehand painting; they are bit- 
mapped, which means they give you control over every 
pixel on the screen. The result is beautiful color, though 
output resolution is limited by the capabilities of the 
screen and graphics card in your system. 

Draw pro ya ts, by contrast, use vectors, or mathe- 
matical descriptions, to draw lines on the screen. Vector 
graphics don't always look that good on screen — text is 
often unreadable — but they are not tied to the 
resolution of your computer screen; they can produce 
spectacular output to the limits of your printing device. 
"The trade-off here between on-screen dazzle and off- 
screen quality is clear. But paint programs are usually 
able to export to desktop publishing programs, while 
few stand-alone drawing programs are compatible in 
this way. 

Slid* (Imw programs combine enhancement or paint 
packages with a command module that lets you display 
a timed series of graphics screens to produce a self- 
running or uscr-inlcractive slide show program. Some 
slide show programs offer impressive Hollywood-style 
special effects, including wipes and dissolves and even 
crude animation. 

These five approaches to presentation graphics are, 
to an increasing extent, combined in various ways. 
Traditional charting programs are adding enhancement 
features by the yard, for example, while enhancement 
packages are appending slide show capabilities. The 
logical extreme is a program like VCN Concorde, which 
— at $695 — offers every feature you can think of 

Then there are the more exotic graphics product 
categories that have sprung up recently: mapping 
packages: engineering design tools (CAD/CAM); profes- 



sional graphics design tools (Adobe Illustrator); straight 
animation packages; statistical charting packages; and 
the graphics modules of integrated programs such as 
Framework, the newly announced Microsoft Works for 
the PC. or — after ail these years, still the best-selling 
graphics package of all — even Lotus 1-2-3. 

Even as we speak, developers are eyeing the colors 
and increased resolution of the new VGA standard and 
dreaming up new categories. One product that shows 
where they're going is Zenographics' Mirage. It supports 
a palette of 96 colors, can handle mainframe data, and 
produces extremely high-quality output. Mirage's $895 
price tag is only a fraction of the total investment you'll 
need in hardware to make full use of this product. 

To produce this Product Comparison, InfoH'orld 
screened more than 80 graphics packages and selected 
six business-oriented packages for a detailed examina- 
tion. These six, none of which have previously been 
reviewed in our pages, present a nice cross section of the 
graphics market in its current state of flux, running the 
gamut from easy and inexpensive to feature-laden and 
powerful. We tested all on an IBM PC XT with 640K. a 
hard disk, and EGA. and then we tested them again on 
an AT. We used no math coprocessor, though we 
recommend one for serious work. Graphics programs 
consume hardware: The more power you have, the 
happier you'll be. Even small hardware enhancements 
result in noticeable performance improvements. 

All the products were put through the same test. A 
DIF data file was imported (only one package was 
unable to accept DIF); bar charts and pie charts were 
created; and titles, labels, legends, and other enhance- 
ments were added. The resulting graph was displayed on 
the screen and then sent to a plotter. 

In this product comparison we also list presentation 
graphics programs we've recently reviewed, along with 
their scores, and we provide a list of other graphics 
packages you might want to consider. We've added a 
sidebar on output considerations — what you do with 
the output short of lugging the monitor into the 
boardroom. Finally, the //i/iiM ;»•/</ Executive Summary 
draws the bottom line: Which presentation graphics 
packages arc most suitable for which purposes? 

Harvard Graphics 

Positi\ely the best in show among these products is 
Harvard Graphics, Software Publishing's major 
upgrade of its Harv ard Presentation Graphics program 
(see First Look. August 3. and review of earlier system. 
May 26. 1986). Harvard's list of pluses is so long that 
you hardly notice its limited number of drawbacks. It 
integrates charting and drawing functions more 
completely than any of the products reviewed. 

You'll be quite impressed with its list of chart types. 
This includes all the standards, of course, but it also 
includes many others, such as histograms, semi-log and 
log-log charts, paired bar charts, and proportional and 
linked pie charts. The drawing board lets you create 
organizational and flow charts, diagrams, and free-form 



.Vssuiiuii" Yoti Die In 20 Vciirs 

Cost Of Dying 

Expense Breakdown 




drawings. Unlike most other products. Harvard allows a 
chart to be enhanced with symbols or diagrams in the 
drawing board. 

In addition to importing symbols created in the 
drawing board, you have 100 stock shapes and drawings 
available to you in the symbols library. You can use 
these in any chart, graph, or diagram. If you need even 
more types of symbols, the program will accept any 
imported bit-mapped picture file. And you can build on 
the seven basic fonts, enhancing them to provide a 
library of 22 different type styles. 

After creating a series of charts and diagrams for a 
presentation, you can organize them into a rather 
sophisticated screen show. You can use bit-mapped files 
created with other programs, such as PC Paintbrush. PC 
Paint, or Dr. Halo. Not only do you put your slides in a 
particular order, you also cue your show for both timing 
and visual effects. You can make one slide dissolve into 
another. You can build on an idea or concept by 
overlaying one chart on another. Kinally. you can even 
make cue cards for your verbal presentation that are 
linked to a specific graph, diagram, or chart. Once the 
program is complete, you store the whole thing under a 
unique name to be recalled and run on demand. 

There are many occasions when the same presenta- 
tion can be used — with only slight modifications — for 
different situations or sales prospects. Harvard Graphics 
has a unique feature for the creation of templates which 
permit you to predefine the defaults of frequently used 
chart styles. 

This is the only product we tested that can perform 
internal mathematics. Using command keywords 
similar to the "@" formulas in Lotus 1-2-3, you can 
expand or modify your input data to create different 
charts. For example, the notation "@MAVG" creates a 
data series w hich is the moving average of another data 
scries in the chart. Use "@REXP" and you've computed 
an exponential regression curve for the scries. Similar 
commands exist for linear, logarithmic, and power 
regression. You can also use the command keywords to 
copy or move data between series, as well as to compute 
cumulative or net values between series of data. 

Strangely. Harvard Graphics will not import a DIF 
file. It will import a Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet or graph, an 
ASCII file, or a PFS Graph file. It will export in a 
Metafile format, so it is useful in desktop publishing 
applications. 

The program appears through a series of drop-down 
menus. Even these have a sharp, well-conceived, and 
impressive look. A command line at the bottom of the 
screen lists function key calls for Help, Size, Attributes, 
and Drawing. This command line is available at all 
menu levels, so you can look at your graph after every 
change or edit by pressing F2. 

The most amazing thing about Harvard Graphics is 
its price. Costing only $395. it's less expensive than 
many of its less capable competitors. In our opinion it's 
the best performer of the group and a great value. 

Harvard Graphics. Version 2.0; list price, $395. 
Software Publishing Corp., 1901 Landings Drive, P.O. 
Box 7210. Mountain View, CA 94039; (415)962-8910. 



Energraphics 



Harvard Graphics produces histograms, semi-log, and 
log-log charts as well as the bar and pie charts pictured. 



This product was probably llic first real integrated 
graphics product to appear on the PC. By "integrated," 
we mean that it combines the elements ofchartmaking 
with those of text graphics, and also provides drawing 
and symbolic diagrams. Many of the other entries in the 
race have had an opportunity to go to school on 
Energraphics' early success. 

Even though it's been around for a while, 
Energraphics is still a fine product. It is easy to install 
and above all easy to use. It uses a segmented screen to 
display menus, communicate messages, and display 
data. Pop-up windows display help screens. Function 
keys activate all menu selections. 

You can almost get along without the documenta- 



alerial 



56 

SEPHMBER 21, 1987 



Product: Comparison 



INFO 
WORLD 




With the charting subprogram of Energrophics. the user 
can enhance a chart with up to / 00 symbols and icons. 



tion for simple charting in this program. Customizing 
charts and drawing requires a little study and reading. 
Energraphits' documentation is ver>' thorough in what 
it covers, but it is neither well-written nor well- 
presented. 

As a charting program alone. Energraphics is slightly 
above average. It may not have the extensive list of 
graph types that some of the other packages ofTer, but it 
has all the essential chart types. These include some 
special features such as three-dimensional perspective, 
logarithmic scaling, and regression. In addition to your 
typical line. bar. and pie charts, you can do scatter 
charts, Hi/Low/Close, Gantt, text charts, and 
polynomial regressions. 

Energraphics also includes a screen show feature that 
is ideal for desktop presentations. A chart completed in 
the charting subprogram can be enhanced with up to 
100 symbols and icons, but it can't be moved to the 
drawing board and enhanced with free-form drawing. 
The drawing section of the program includes 19 
templates with 26 symbols on each template. 

Energraphics has an awkward file import procedure. 



A DIE file must be imported and then converted to a 
special Energraphics format before it can be used in a 
graph. (The vendor sells a $49 macro utility for 
abbreviating the import procedure for Lotus files.) One 
plus is that several distinct charts can be created from a 
single DIP file. This feature makes the program a lot 
more flexible than programs that require you to 
remember the structure of the file before leaving I-2-.1. 

Unfortunately, Energraphics is also a little slower 
than most of the other programs, but the dilTcrence is 
not significant, and if you didn't have a bunch of other 
programs to compare it to (as we did), you might not 
even notice the slower sp)eed. 

When installed, neither our mouse nor our plotter 
functioned correctly. But more importantly, a call to 
their 800 number (the only 800 number available 
among all these products) resulted in a quick solution to 
both problems. 

Energraphics is the most expensive of all the 
products we evaluated. In terms of features and 
performance, it's a fine product, but it's only a fair value 
at $595. 

Energraphics. Version 2.01; list price, $595. 
Enertronics Research Corp.. 5 Station Plaza, 1910 Pine 
St., St. Louis, MO 6310.1: (800) 325-0174. 



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VP Graphics 



This product bears a striking resemblance to Windows 
Graph, with pull-down menus and a drawing tablet. It 
doesn't really use Windows — it just looks like it does. 
VP Graphics is a drawing-oriented product with 
charting capability. You can draw lines, arcs, and 
polygons. You can also mix in text. There is a limited 
symbols library (containing 32 symbols), which can be 
used to enhance the graphs and text charts. 

Although you can work from the keyboard, this type 
of product is intended for a mouse. Familiarity with 
Microsoft Windows will make learning this program 
quite easy, because of the similarity, but it's not ab- 
solutcK necessary. 



With a few elicits of the mouse, VP Graphics can enhance 
a graph by placing a drop-shadow effect behind. 



As graphics packages go, VP's features are fairiy 
basic. They arc limited to conventional line, bar, 
stacked bar. x-y. and pie charts. You can explode a pie 
slice: and. using the shading menu, you can turn a line 
chart into an area chart. Logarithmic scaling and double 
y-axis charts arc beyond its abilities. Some fairly 
interesting results can be achieved by combining 
symbols, text, and charting on the same page. 

As with all the windows-type products, you can 
create multiple pages of copy within the same file. This 
approach lends itself well to the development of entire 
presentations and batch processing of completed 
programs. 

Installing device drivers is simple the first time 
around. (You can't run the program until the drivers are 
installed.) But changing them is another stoo- It can't 
be done from within the program. This is a problem 
with print devices in particular. 

To begin with, we installed an HP plotter. Later, 
when we wanted to change to an HP Laserjet Series II. 
we had to reinstall the printer drivers. The documenta- 
tion recommends a separate installation file for each 



How Do You Print It? 



Deciding what features you need is only half the 
battle of choosing a graphics program. The type 
and quality of output is of equal importance. There 
are several ways to produce output from a graphics 
program, including hard copy, slides, photographic 
prints, and on-screen video. It won't do you any good 
to generate exotic bubble graphs if you can't print 
them on your new 300-dpi laser printer. 

Your selection process is fairly easy if your 
requirements are simply for hard copy printouts and 
transparencies. You need only make sure the product 
supports your dot-matrix printer, plotter, or laser 
printer (a daisy wheel will rarely be of use here). 
Choosing the right output device is a little harder. 
Dot-matrix printers are inexpensive and can produce 
surprisingly good black-and-white paper graphs. 
Color is available on dot-matrix or ink-jet printers. 
(Make sure the graphics package supports your 
machine.) 

A special word about laser printers is in order. 
Laser printers don't support color yet, but they 
provide both high-quality output and the capability of 
mimicking dot-matrix printers. However, not all 
graphics products support these devices. 'Most only 
support a limited number of the best known brands. If 
you've already purchased your laser printer and it 
doesn't at least emulate the Hewlett-Packard Laserjet, 
it becomes doubly important that the graphics 
program you're considering support your specific 
printer brand and model. Note also that laser printers 
with minimal memory won't produce graphics, or will 
be very restricted in the amount of graphics they can 
handle. You need at least a megabyte of RAM to get a 
full page of high-resolution {300-dpi) graphics. 
Finally, you will probably have to purchase some 
form of downloadable fonts to get the best results out 
of the machine in addition to the graphics capability. 
You may find yourself paying more than just the 
street price of a bare-bones machine to get the most 
from your laser printer. 

However, if your need is to enhance your desktop 
publishing operation, laser drivers are less important 
than the capability of converting the graphics files 
into a form useful to desktop publishing programs. 



Three favored methods are TIFF (Tag Image File 
Format), compatible with Pagemaker and Microsoft 
Windows, and Publishers Paintbrush and Dr. Halo, 
two paint programs whose file formats are widely used 
as common ground by other graphics programs and 
which are compatible with both Pagemaker and Ven- 
tura Publisher. 

Plotters — another popular type of graphics output 
device — are slow, but without a doubt they give you 
the best hard copy color graphics output available. A 
plotter is also a necessity for producing color 
transparencies. Almost all graphics products support 
the most popular plotters. Be careful, however, if your 
plotter is over 5 years old (graphics programs may not 
have drivers for it) or if it is a specialized device used 
in CAD work (which might make it too exotic for 
most graphics products). Plotters can handle only 
eight colors (pens) at a time, so the number of colors 
your graphics program can generate beyond this 
number means little with this output form. 

Not so with slides and photographic prints from 
image recorders. These can handle as much color and 
resolution as your monitor can deliver. With this type 
of device, the graphic image is reproduced on 
photographic film rather than in hard copy form. The 
quality of the result depends primarily on the image 
recorder that is used, and in some cases upon the type 
of graphics adapter being used. 

The most widely supported image recorder is the 
Polaroid Palette. It also represents the low end of the 
spectrum in terms of both price (about $1,200) and 
quality. At a resolution of 640 by 4(X) dpi, Polaroid's 
product is as good as the screen display of an EGA 
monitor. This may be sufficient for many users, but 
some will notice that the lines and curves are not quite 
crisp, or that finely drawn symbols have a slightly 
fuzzy look around the edges. 

The only way to improve the quality is to use a 
better image recorder. A number of choices are 
available with resolutions ranging from 1.800 by 
1.300 dpi to 10,000 by 10.000 dpi. Such quantum 
leaps in resolution are accompanied by quantum leaps 
in price: Some cost well over $20,000. If you're in the 
market for this kind of power, make sure your 



graphics product supports that kind of resolution — 
generally you're looking for vector-based rather than 
bit-mapped graphics programs because vector output 
can adjust automatically and without limit to the 
resolution of the output device. Bit-mapped graphics, 
on the other hand, look better on-screen (so they are 
ideal for slide-show products), but the output to hard 
copy of recorders is limited by the resolution of the 
graphics card and monitor. 

There are several products that produce film and 
slide reproduction through regional service centers. 
Autographix 35 (Autographix Inc., Waltham. MA) is 
typical: You create and they produce. Finished files 
are transmitted by modem to the service center, where 
a high-quality image recorder produces the slide or 
photo. That's one way to get your high-end image 
recorder without paying the price. At $10 per 35mm 
slide, it can be well worth your while for some 
projects. Compufilm, by Koala Technologies (Scotts 
Vally, CA) offers a slight variation: You store up to 10 
images on a special floppy disk, then send it in its pre- 
paid Federal Express mailer (included) to the 
processing plant, getting back 35mm slides within 48 
hours for a net cost of $ 1 5 per slide, shipping included. 

Screen presentations or video shows are relatively 
new features of many graphics products. Using the 
screen show, slide images are recorded in files along 
with a command file that handles such special effects 
as overlay and dissolve and timing of displays. The 
finished product might involve dozens of individual 
images and is displayed on the computer's screen or 
on a projection TV. Resolution is limited by that of 
the display adapter used and will not, therefore, be as 
good as that of the better image recorders. But quick 
production and flexibility can pay dividends. For 
example, you can prepare a program this morning 
and show the finished product this afternoon. 

Some screen presentation programs that offer 
better resolution are hardware dependent. This is true, 
for example, with General Parametric's Video Show 
and the recently introduced PC Emcee from Decision 
Resources, which require their own video display 
systems. 

— Rick Long 



C^i aterial 



INFO 
WORLD 



Product: Comparison 



57 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1 987 



1 1 1 . 



Windows Graph outputs enhancements such as exploded 
pie sections, overlapping bars, and logarithmic scale. 



desired configuration. It would be much easier to 
provide multiple output device files that could be 
accessed from the program. 

The product uses the key-disk type of copy 
protection. (Registered users can purchase a non-copy- 
protected version for $10.) Even when installed on a 
hard disk, the main program disk must be kept in drive 
A. No hard disk installation procedure exists to 
eliminate this nuisance. We can say very little for 
support since the phone was busy every time we tried to 
call. Paperback Software has a policy of paid support 
only, no free support. 

VP Graphics does have a number of nice features. It 
imports data from a DIF file more readily than any of 
the other programs. Simplicity is the key. Whatever was 
saved in the file gets displayed in the worksheet window. 
Then you define the ranges with which you wish to 
work. 

This method is much easier to handle than the 
system used in several other products, where the data 
ranges must be specified before you run the import 
program. 

Although it doesn't have three-dimensional capabili- 
ty, VP Graphics can enhance a graph by placing a drop- 
shadow efTect behind the graph. To achieve the drop- 
shadow effect, you copy the graph in a position slightly 
offset from the original, change the color to solid black, 
and move it to the back of the original. As complicated 
as it might seem, this procedure takes only a few 
keystrokes or clicks of the mouse. 

One of VP Graphics" strongest features is the clarity 
of its documentation. The documentation is obviously 



intended for the novice user. 

For those wishing to get into integrated presentation 
graphics — both charting and drawing — with limited 
expense and an easy learning curve, VP Graphics, at 
$99.95. is an excellent value. 

VP Graphics, Version 1.0: list price, $99.95. 
Paperback Software International, 2830 Ninth St., 
Berkeley, CA 947 10; (4 1 5) 644-2 1 16. 

Windows Graph 

•Although there are strong similarities between Windows 
Graph and VP Graphics in terms of appearance and 
Of)eration. they are far from identical. The features in 
Windows Graph are designed for constructing business 
graphs. Thus, its capabilities are quite extensive. (See 
First Look, July 13.) 

Windows Graph has a limited number of primitives, 
but to really combine drawing and symbols with charts, 
you must also purchase Windows Draw (reviewed May 
5, 1986). The two products are a formidable 
combination. 

On its own, Windows Graph has a very 
comprehensive list of charting features. These include 
bar. column, area, line, pie, and scatter charts, as well as 
tables. Enhancements such as exploded pie sections, 
three-dimensional perspective, overlapping bars, loga- 
rithmic scale, and double y-axis are well within the 
program's limitations. 

The Windows Graph program has the advantage of 
being capable of importing data easily from several 
different file protocols, including DIF and WKS. 
Several printers and plotters can be installed and 
changed on the fly. 

But Windows Graph is not devoid of problems. 
When running our test files, we encountered problems 
labeling the axis. We found no pre-positioned labels, so 
placing titles and axis labels was very difficult. They 
must be individually positioned, centered, and com- 
bined with the rest of the chart. A window for text labels 
would be very helpful. Presenting the data is easy. 
Cleaning up and finishing the graph is a pain. 

Windows Graph costs $395 — rather pricey 
considering that it's mainly a charting package. When 
combined with Windows Draw ($199) and the Clip Art 
collection (a symbols library that costs $99), the package 
is verN complete and powerful, but one with a price tag 
of almost $700. 

Windows Graph, Version 1.0: list price, $395. 
Micrografx, 1820 N. Greenville Ave., Richardson, TX 
75081: (214) 234-1769, 



» hay* or u wmlwA m> l^tliMtUa. 



With Picture Perfect, you must select the type of graph you 
intend to create before you do anything else. 

Picture Perfect 

This product, like Windows Graph, is limited to 
business charts. It has the shortest list of charting 
features of any of the products we reviewed. It shares 
some things with its sister product Diagraph/2000 (a 
$395 symbols library, reviewed July 20). But while 
Diagraph impressed us as a powerful and effective 
product. Picture Perfect is a disappointment, both on its 
own merits and in comparison with others. 

In all but a few cases. Picture I^rfect's features list 
may be short, but it is certainly adequate for the task. It 
does both horizontal and vertical bar charts in stacked, 
clustered, or overlapping formats. Picture Fterfect will 
do line or area charts as well as combination bar and line 
charts. It has the capacity to use double y-axis 
orientation. Provided you purchase and install them. 
Picture Perfect can use all 43 type fonts available for 
Diagraph. It will even show plotted data in chart form 
below data points. 

The program is missing some features common to its 
competitors. For example, it will not plot logarithmic 
scales. It will not compute and display regression lines. 
There is no three-dimensional perspective available. It 
does not create high/low/close or 100 percent bar 
charts. It does not create Gantt, bubble, or paired bar 
charts. You cannot link pie charts or have them 
displayed in a proportional mode. 

The current release (4.0) has made significant strides 
in improving printer/plotter/palette support. More than 
60 output devices are now supported — a 
comprehensive list by anyone's standards. Picture 



Recently Reviewed: 



Presentation graphics packages recently reviewed 
I 



447-1664. Overall score for Version 1.00: 6.4. 



by InfoWorld include: 



A charting and drawing package that 
, Includes a symbol library. List price: $395. Computer 
Support Corp., 2215 Midway Road, Carrollton, TX 
75006: (214) 661-8960. Version 3.5 (current version) 
;, reviewed July 20. Overall score: 6.2. 



W»i: A charting and drawing package. List 
price: $495. Lotus Development Corp., 55 Cambridge 
, Parkway. Cambridge, MA 02142: (617) 577-8500. 
%. Reviewed January 19. 1987. Overall score: 7.0. 

r MM Dtsktaf CellMtioii: Includes GEM Word Chart. 
GEM Draw, and Gem Graph. List price (GEM 
Presentation Team): $495. Digital Research Inc., 60 
Garden Court, P.O. Box DRI. Monterey, CA 93942; 
(408) 649-3896. Version 1.2 reviewed October 6. 
1986. (Current version is 2.2.) Overall score; 6.7. 

firaph-lii-Ths-laxi A memory-resident instant 
graphing package. List price: $99.95. New England 
Software Inc.. Greenwich Office Park #3. Greenwich, 
CT 06831: (800) 633-2252; (203) 625-0062. Version 
I.I reviewed June 30. 1986. Overall score: 3.4. 



ll: A screen capture program that inserts captured 
graphics into other applications. List price: $99. Inset 
Systems Inc. (formerly American Programmers 
Guild). 12 Mill Plain Road. Danbury, CT 06811; 
(203) 794-0396. Version I. IB reviewed May 26, 1986. 
(Current version is 2. 1 .) Overall score: 4.2. 

MicraMlt ttirt i A charting package. We reviewed 
Version 2.0 March 31, 1986: Microsoft has an- 
nounced a major upgrade to Version 3.0. List price: 
$295. Microsoft Corp.. 16011 N.E. 36th Way. 
Redmond. WA 98073; (206) 882-8080. Overall score 
for Version 2.0: 7.4. 

Ptrspcdi**: A three-dimensional graphics package; 
now being sold as Boeing Graph. Version 2.0a. List 
price: $350. Boeing Computer Services. P.O. Box 
24346. Mail Stop 7W-05, Seattle, WA 98124; (206) 
644-6195. Reviewed as Perspective I.I, November 
24. 1986. Overall score: 6.8. 



94066; (408) 749-8620. (Also sold by IBM as IBM 
Slidewrite.) Overall score for Version 1 .20; 5.9. 

Stella tutlnasi Graplikf! An amazingly quick and easy- 
to-use package with high-resolution output. List price: 
$99 (reduced from $199). Vendor has announced 
high-end version. Business Graphics II, $195. Stella 
Systems Inc., 10430 S. De Anza Blvd., Suite 185, 
Cupertino. CA 95014; (408) 257-6644. Version 3.0 
reviewed March 16. Overall score: 7.8. 

30-<riipMm A Lotus add-in that enhances 1-2-3 
charts with three dimensions. List price: $79. Intex 
Solutions Inc., 568 Washington St., Wellesley, MA 
02181; (617) 239-1 168. Version 1.0 reviewed August 
3. Overall score: 8.4. 



I<s Galleqr: An integrated charting and 
drawing program. We reviewed Version 1.00 April 
13: HP has just announced Version 2.0. a major 
enhancement. List price: $695 (Gallery Collection, 
includes Drawing Gallery. Charting Gallery). 
Hewlett-Packard Business Computing Systems, 
19091 Pruneridge Ave.. Cupertino. CA 95014: (408) 



Partner: Specializes in slide shows. List price: 
$79. Brightbill-Roberts and Co. Ltd.. 120 E. 
Washington St.. Suite 42 1 , Syracuse. NY 1 3202: (3 1 5) 
474-3400. Version 2.0 reviewed January 26. (Current 
version is 2.2.) Overall score: 7.5. 

SHdaairH* Phis: Emphasizes 35mm output capabili- 
ties. We reviewed Version 1.20 June 22: newly 
announced is Version 2.0, with significant enhance- 
ments. List price: $345. Advanced Graphics Software 
Inc., 333 W. Maude Ave.. Suite 105. Sunnvvale. CA 



VCN Cen<ar4*: An integrated graphics program. List 
price: $695. Visual Communications Network Inc., 
238 Main St.. Cambridge, MA 02142; (617) 497- 
4000. Version 1.0 reviewed August 18, 1986. (Current 
version is 2.0.) Overall score: 6.9. 

Windows Draw: A companion product to Windows 
Graph; runs under Microsoft Windows. List price: 
$199. Micrografx Inc.. 1820 N. Greenville Ave., 
Richardson. TX 75081; (800) 272-3729; in TX call 
(214) 234-1769. Version 1.0 reviewed May 5, 1986. 
(Current version is 1 .04.) Overall score: 6.2. 

See also lite following InfoWorid Product Compari- 
sons: PC Paint Programs. June 22; Slide Show 
Programs, March 2S: and Buyer's Guide to Presen- 
tation Graphics Programs, also March 23. 



Cor 



58 

SEPTEMKR 21, 1987 



Product: Comparison 



INFO 
WORLD 



'and More Graphics Programs . . 



The world of graphics software is rich with choices. 
Here is Just a sampling of additional packages. 

Autumn, Version 5.1. Zenographics. 19752 MacAr- 
Ihur Blvd.. Suite 250. Irvine. CA 92715: (714) 851- 
6352. Price: $595. Chartbouk graphics with full 
dranini; and edilinn. Suhsci of Mirage (see helow). 

Boeing Graph (formerly Perspective). Boeing Comput- 
er Services. Micro Software Prcxiucts. P.O. Box 
24346. M.S. 7W-05. Seattle. WA 98124; (800) 368- 
4555. Price: $395. Graph ami chart program that in- 
cludes link to Boeing Calc. I 'er\ii>n 4.0 newly released. 

Chart Master, Sign Master, Diagram Master. Ashton- 
Tate. 20101 Hamilton Ave.. Torrance. CA 90502; 
(213) 329-8000. Price: $375. Trio of graphics 
packages. 



11 (formerly Chartstar from Micropro). 
Mo.saic Software. 1972 Massachusetts .Ave.. Cam- 
bridge. MA 02140; (800) 422-8946. Price: $99. 
General-purpose graphics package 

Exeoitive P!<ture Show. Spectrum Holobyte. 2061 
Challenger Drive. Alameda. CA 94501: (415) 522- 
3584. Price: $245. Graph and draw program including 
slide and animation capabilities. 



Artech Software, P.O. Box 2847. Reston. 
VA 22090; (703) 860- .3085. Price: $149.95. £a.vr 
business graphics package with icon-driven user 
interface, three-dimensional graphics, and text. 

Crofix Partner. Brightbill-Roberts and Co. Ltd.. 1 20 E. 
Washington St.. Suite 42 I.Syracuse. NY 13202: (315) 
474-34{X). Price: $89. Graphics processor that can 
Hvrk alone or as an enhancer to Lotus 1-2-3. 



Graph Station. Software Clearing House Inc.. 77 1 Neeb 
Road. Cincinnati. OH 45238: (513) 451-6742. Price: 
$495. Business graphics program with powerful Lotus 
interface 

Key Chart Graphiis System, Version 4.0. Softkey 
Software Products. 260 Richmond St. W.. Suite 300. 
Toronto. Omario. M5V IW5: (800) 263-5800. Price: 
$149 (printer version). Entry-level business charting 
and graphing product. 

Kinctii Graphits System. Kinetic Presentations Inc.. 
Distillery t omnions 250. Louisville. KY 40206: (502) 
583-1679. Price: $995. Five modules: System. Words. 
Graphs. Layout, and.irt. 

Mass-I I Draw. Microsystems Engineering Corp.. 2400 
W. Hasscll Road. Suite 400. Hoffman Estates. IL 
60195: (312) 882-8790. Price: $495. Graph and 
drawing product with complete set of icons for image 
creation 

Mirage. Zenographics. 19752 MacAnhur Blvd.. Suite 
250. Irvine. CA 92715: (714) 851-6352. Price: $895. 
Oriented to professional graphics houses, or graphics 
arts departments of large corporations, lias very high 
quality output for 35mm slides. 

K-Key-Draw. Oedware. P.O. Box 595. Columbia. MD 
21045: (301) 997-9333. Price: Trial, $15; Registered. 
$100. Shareware presentation graphics product with 
painting and C. ID features. 

PC Paintbrush Plus. Zsoft Corp., 1950 Spectrum Circle. 
Suite A-495 (after October 1 5: 450 Franklin Road. 
Suite 100). Marietta. GA 30067; (404) 980-1950. 
Price: $149. Drawing and painting program with 
support fur image scanners and laser printers. 



Presenter K. Dicomed Corp.. 12000 Pbrtland Ave. S.. 
P.O. Box 246. Minneapolis. MN 55440; (612) 885- 
3000. Price; $995. Drawing-oriented. diK's convention- 
al and text charts from data. Uses the Videoshow 
interface. 

Rhote Graphics. (Being replaced by DB Graphics at 
same price.) Microrim, 3925 I59ih Ave. N.E., 
Redmond. WA 98073; (206) 885-2000. Price: $295. 
Business graphics package with special features for 
Rbase data. New version supports Dbase and other 
data. 

Somna Dedsion Graphiis. Samna Corp.. 2700 N.E. 
Expressway. Atlanta. GA .30345; (800) 831-9679. 
Price: $450. Presentation graphics package. Includes 
three-dimensional features, calcidation. and link to 
Samna wvrd processor. 

Slide Iipari. Autographix Inc., P.O. Box 9031. 
Waltham. MA 02254; (617) 890-8558. Price: $249. 
Chan and graph product with communications 
software lor sending information to slide-imaging 
house 



I Presentations. Communiations Dvnamics Inc.. 
7.300 S.W. Hunziker. Suite 200. Tigard. OR 97223; 
(503) 684-5 151. Price: $.300. Lasy-to-iLse charting and 
graphics program including 35mm slide creation in its 

features 

Story Board Plus. IBM Corp.. (800) 426-2468. Price: 
$350. Graphics package designed to be an easy 
application to use. 



i. LCS/Telegraphics. 222 Third St.. Suite 
2242. Cambridge. MA 02142; (617) 547-4738. Price: 
$69. Painting and charting package. 



Perfect's support of graphics adapters and monitors is 
equally complete. Even on an RGB monitor, display of 
graphs is very good. 

The documentation serves both as an installation 
guide, which is easy to use. and as a tutorial, which 
iiequires several worthwhile hours to complete. Help 
screens serve as a technical reference on all the 
program's features and capabilities. These are well- 
displayed and in all but a few instances arc very helpful 
indeed. 

The problem with Picture Perfect, then, is not so 
much what it does but how it does it. You must select 
the type of graph you intend to create before you do 
anything else. Then you input data, titles, legends, 
labels, and so forth. If you're not entirely satisfied with 
what you see, it is no simple matter to redisplay the data 
in another form. All the other products we've seen allow 
switching from one type of graph to another with one or 
two keystrokes. Picture Perfect first forces you to save 
the graph in its current form. Then you exit the chart 
program and return to the main menu of chart choices. 
After selecting your next graph type, you must reload 
the previous graph. 

Picture Perfect does not function with any desktop 
publishing system. Neither will it directly interface with 
Diagraph. which would enable you to enhance charts 
with symbols or icons. 

This product sells for $295. Buy both Picture Perfect 
and Diagraph for $590. The latter is a good value. We 



Sales Results 

Comparative Data 




wish we could say the same for the former. 

Picture Perfect. Version 4.0; list price, $295. 
Computer Support Corp., 2215 Midwav Road, 
Carrollton. TX 75006; (2 1 4) 66 1 -8960. 



Graphwriter 



A major upgrade of Lotus Graphwriter is being 
announced as this report goes to press. This is good, 
because Graphwriter in its current form is simply not up 
to the standards of the other packages in this 
comparison — nor to the high standards set by its 
companion product, Lotus Freelance Plus. (See full 
review, January 19.) 

The current version of Graphwriter does have a very 
wide range of choices in graph tyijes, close to 
Energraphics and Harvard Graphics for top honors in 
this department. It lacks the screen show, three- 
dimensional display, and symbolic diagram features 
available in Harvard and Energraphics, but it is the only 
product reviewed in this comparison that creates bubble 
charts. Much to its credit, the program comes with 
quick-start instructions for both installation and 
chartmaking. 

But, while this version of Graphwriter excels in 



breadth of features, it is a disappointment in perfor- 
mance, ease of use, and documentation. A prime 
candidate for reform in the coming update is the input 
format, which in this version is more difficult to use 
than the other products we've considered here. Lotus 
uses a combination of menus and a continuous question 
and answer technique, which cannot be halted or 
recycled until all required information has been entered. 
Importing data from a DIF file is also a chore. You must 
describe how many rows and columns, where to start, 
and how to read the data. 

Charting worksheets, included with the documenta- 
tion, are an absolute necessity for designing your charts 
in detail before setting them up in the program. 

The documentation is very detailed, highly technical, 
but difficult to read. And the tutorial is not extensive. 
Help .screens can only be described as cryptic. 

Finally, we found Graphwriter's screen preview 
capability the weakest of those nere. 

In conclusion, we recommend you lake a close look 
at the update, and if you find it meets your needs, make 
sure you don't accidentally buy the earlier version. 

Graphwriter. Version 4.3; list price. $495. Lotus 
Development Corp., 55 Cambridge Parkwav, Cam- 
bridge. MA 02 1 42; (6 1 7) 577-8500. 



Graphwriter produces a wide range ol graph types, and 
is Ihe only product reviewed that produces bubble charts. 



Executive Suminary 



Some graphics packages emphasize low cost and 
ease of use. Others emphasize the completeness of 
their range of features. 

For the occasional user, VP Graphics is a fine 
choice. Inexpensive and very easy to use on a casual 
basis, it still offers a fairly complete range of features. 

If you plan to make heavy use of graphics, say in a 
business or department with frequent need for 
graphics for repxjrts. fliers, newsletters, or presenta- 
tions needing charts, drawings, symbols, and graphs, 
your needs are more sophisticated. Energraphics can 
be a good choice if the graphics work is stand-alone; 
that is, if the data for the graphs or the completed 
graph files do not need to be integrated with other 
programs. It offers both text graphics and charting 
capabilities. 



But Harvard Graphics is the way to go if you need 
a good range of graphics capabilities and you want to 
integrate the results with desktop publishing or other 
graphics output. Harvard gives top-quality output, 
compatibility with other programs, and pretty slick 
slide-show capabilities to boot. It's overall the 
strongest package considered here, and at $395 it's 
pretty reasonably priced for its pwwer, 

Fmally. there are special situations. If you need 
symbols, symbols, and more symbols, Diagraph has 
the largest symbols library we've seen, which might 
make its companion product. Picture fcrfect, worth 
considering. Another specialty combination is 
Windows Graph and Windows Draw, the only ones 
considered here that offer a Microsoft Windows 
environment. 



Cl 



OurNewGraphics Software 
FoRdBASE And R:Base MayBe A 
BitFasterThanY)u're UsedTq 




Up until now, turning the raw I 
data of a dBASE III /III PLUS or ^ 
R:BASE file into easily understood 
graphs and charts has been any- 
thing but quick. 

It's meant plodding back and 
forth between your database and 
your graphics program, through 
file conversions and translations, 
until you finally got a chart that 
made your point. 

But now there's a faster route db Graphics wms raw cibase m/iii plus and 
to arresting presentation graphics. R:bAse data nies imo graphics with no 

rV>„^ u' conversion, export or import. 

Now there s DB Graphics. 

THE HRST GRAPHICS 
SOFTWARE THAT GOES STRAIGHT TO THE HEART OF 
YOUR DATABASE. 

DB Graphics is the only presentation graphics software designed 
specifically for dBASE, R;BASE and other database software users. 





COImUBlTU COMPVTMR COMFAIIT 





You can change the style of a graphic. Powerful database management tools make 

or the data it represents In anTnstant. It easy to get the data you need into a graph. 

Since it reads dBASE and R:BASE databases direcdy there are no 
time-consuming export, import or conversion utilities to fool with. DB 
Graphics can aho sort and group fields and use conditional operators 

and other powerful database manage- 
ment tools to precisely select and 
graphically display the data you need. 

And because it has a direct line to 
your live data, you can modify a graph, 
or choose different data to represent, 
in an instant. 

MAKE A GRAPHIC 
IMPROVEMENT IN ALL YOUR 
PRESENTATIONS. 

Even though DB Graphics is more 
intelligent than other graphics pro- 
grams, it's no less attractive. It allows 
. J . -r « — iij -' - you to display your data in eight differ- 

output, IncIuaTne SSmm slides. ■' ^ t- • i. l- 

ent graph types - pie, bar, high/low, 
scatter, area, mixed, column and line. You can work with 16 colors and 
hundreds of vivid combinations of textures and patterns. Plus, you can 
choose from seven type styles for free 
text and labels. 

In fact, there's really only one 
kind of database presentation DB 
Graphics isnt capable of making. 
A dull one. 

FOR A nUAL PACK, CALL 
1-800-624-0810 DEPT. IW0922. 

We could go on about the power, 
speed and accuracy of DB Graphics, 
but you really need to experience it 
for yourself. 

So call oiu' toll-free number (or 
ftom Alaska or Canada call 1-206- 
867-1800 Dept. IW0922) and order I 
a DB Graphics THal Pack for just $9.95 ^ 

today And start making the most out The only presentation graphics sortwaie 
^ specificallv designed tor dBASh. R:BASE 

or your database. and other database software users. 

D6 Graphics abo wKks wiih Lotus 1-2-3. Symphony Muluplan and other dau managcRieni Hies afKr rrartsiallng to [he ASCII. dBASE Ill/Ill PLUS or RxBASE format, m Graphics is compaubk with the IBM PSJ2. PC. XT. AT and 100% omipititik peisonaj omputers. It Sijpports 
Ihc IBM VGA. MCGA. EGA. CCA and IICKuIn display sumlaids It also supports most popular ploturs. graphic printers, camera syMems and laser ptinlers from IBM. Epson. Hewlrti-packard and many others, o 1987 Mktorim. 




DB Graphics 



Cci. 



DeAR ReADefi: 
! am Losing- 
MoNey ohJ 

/ SeLL, So / HAve to 
3(yA/cH To/lAKe c;p Fo^ i% 

AL8o, THe CONresT To piK /Me 
A New Su\T fs o\/eR, watcH Fofi 
/^Y Aiew DUDS I'N rHe a^qxt ao. 



^youff Buppy 

AMT jr. has his thinking cap on. 

We're lucky to have a smart kid like him handling our 
marketing strategy. 

Our sacrificial prices make the fiabulous AMT-386, 
AMT-386 TURBO, and brand new 386-based TRANS/PRO 9 
absolutely irresistible 

These phenomenal systems handle a vast library of PC 
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And with our many other systems, options, and accessories, 
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Look over the special offers in this ad. If you don't find 
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We'll help you configure a system that meets your exact 
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So let yourself go. As AMT jr. says, "The more you buy 
the more you save" 

Good advice 




a 386-based desktop 
computer for less than 
S2,000." —Infoworld, 
May 7, 1987 _ 

ful 32-bit 
Intel 80386 CPU 
running at 16 MHz; main 
memory expandable to 16 MB of 32-bit RAM; floppy and 
hard disk controllers; 1.2 MB floppy disk; eight expansion 
slots (four AT, two PC, and two 32-bit memory); RT-style 
keyboard; clock/calendar with battery backup; specials on 
optional Phoenix BIOS and optional socket for 80387 math 
co-processor. 



AMT-386 

SUPERSTAR 

$1899. 

This stellar system 
at a low, low price 
features the power- 




AMT-586 TURBO 

SUPERSWIFT 

$2399. 



TM 

Incomparable Intel 

SUPERSWIFT 80386 CPU; 16 MHz clock; "zero" wait 
state in a 64 KB cache; 1 MB of RAM 
expandable to 4 MB on the mother- 
board; socket for 80287 math co- 
processor; floppy and hard disk controllers; 1.2 MB floppy 
disk; AMI BIOS (industry's most compatible); eight expansion 
slots (six l6-bit, two 8-bit); RT-style keyboard. 

A large number of options and accessories are available 
for the AMT-386 and AMT-386 TURBO, including floppy 
disks, hard disks, memory boards, and peripherals. 




AMT-286 TURBO™**** 

LOADED FOR BEAR This AMT Four-Star 
$ 2 999 Special System features an 

Intel 80286 CPU; 5//^ b 
MHz switcbable clock; 640 KB of RAM 

on the motherboard, with a "one" wait ' 

state; 1.2 MB floppy disk; Phoenix BIOS; 40 MB hard disk 
drive; 40 MB integral tape backup; Genoa EGA, with 800 x 600 
resolution; NEC Multisync monitor; RT-style keyboard; 
security key lock; and 192-watt power supply. 



AMT-286™ LEAN AND MEAN Based on an Intel 
80286 CPU, this configuration offers a 6/10 MHz 
switchable clock; 640 KB of RAM on the mother- 
board, with a "one" wait state; socket for an 80287 math 
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$699. 



AMTjr: 



i 



$999. 



jlllHllllI"*™' . ' 




GRAPHICS SPECIAL Includes Video 7's 
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TRANS/PRO 9 " world class 

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TRANS /PRO 8™ JACKPOT This outstanding 
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TRANS/PRO 9. Comes with 640 KB of user RAM; floppy and 
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TRANS/PRO 7™ LIKE stealing 

jKOQQ This full-featured transportable system has a 
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4.77/8 MHz, switchable; 640 KB of RAM on the motherboard; 
360 KB floppy disk; snap-on, 83-key keyboard; integral 9-inch 
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LAP /PRO 10™ POWER PORTABLE 

$ 1 499 "^^^^ advanced lap tops on the. market; 

l6-bit Intel 80186 CPU, running at 4.91 MHz; 
I j -'"^ 640 KB of RAM; two 5.25 inch, 360 KB 

floppy disks; integral, back-lit 80 x 25 
blue Super Twist LCD screen; 88-key 
enhanced keyboard; 96-pin expansion 
port; serial, parallel, and RGB ports; only 17 pounds. 

LAP/PRO 11 ™ $2999. Uke lap/pro lO but with 
one 5.25-inch, 360 KB floppy disk and one 20 MB hard disk. 

™ AMT3a6. AMT286, AMT jr., TRANS/PRO, UP/PSO, PUBUSH/PHO 
« BqjjsloHl indenurts— IBM, OM PC. m PUXT, ISM PC /IT, PC DOS: 




ANNOUNCING 

THE F«ST TWO-PAGE-DISPLAY 
DESKTOP PUBLISHING SYSTEM FOR 

$4995 

AMT breaks the price/performance barrier with 
PUBLISH/PRO™, a fiilly integrated professional 
desktop publishing system. You get: 

AMT-286 personal computer: Intel 80286 
CPU running at 10 MHz; 640 KB of RAM; 
1.2 MB floppy disk; 40 MB Seagate hard disk; 
Video 7 Deluxe EGA; and Logitech Mouse 

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ConoVision 1600 image enhancement board 
from Conographic; brings system resolution 
to an incredible 1600 x 1200, allowing two 
full pages to be viewed side by side on the 
Multisync. 

BlaserStar 2 versatile 300 DPI, 8-page-per- 
minute laser printer: 1 MB of RAM for full 
page graphics capability; compatible with 
Hewlett-Packard Laserjet Series A; parallel and 
serial interfaces; nine type faces and 17 symbol 
sets; 250-sheet paper cassette; 15,000-page 
drum and toner kit; and face-up and 
face-down collation. 

Publishing Software optional 1595: choice 
of Aldus Pagemaker with Microsoft Windows, 
or Ventura Publisher. 



FREE SOFTWARE With every system 
purchased, regardless of price, AMT gives you 1200 worth of 
FREE software for business and fun. 



AMT offers complete service for its personal 
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TRW. Service contracts may include 
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DO-IT-YOURSELF AMT's simple, flexible leasing 

LEASING Pl*" yo" P^y ^o"" y^^'" equipment as 
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CALL AMT TODAY The personal computer you 
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TWX 5106003265 AMT USA ■ FAX (714) 731-0109 
IF YOU ARE READY TO ORDER CALL: (800) 338-7110 
Credit cards accepted. 




AMERICAN MICRO 
TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION 

14751 Franklin Avenue, Tustin, California 92680 

ire trademartu of Amerkan Mloo t^notogy Corporaiion. 
InlcfTuUxtal Business Midlines CorpoMun; MS 



INFO 
WORLD 



First: Look 

By Michael J. Miller 



A Shelf Full of Reference Books Shrinks to the Size of One Shiny Loser Disc 



There's no question that 
compact disc read-only memory 
(CD ROM) promises to put tons 
of information at the fingertips 
of computer users. After all. 
these laser-read discs can hold 
more than 600 megabytes of 
information. True, you can only 
read, not write to. a compact 
disc, but this medium still offers 
enormous possibilities for what 
Jerry Pournelle likes to call 
"The Library of the Month 
Club." 

But like any good technical 
idea, whether it be the Macin- 
tosh. OS/2, or Micro Channel 
Architecture, the CD ROM will 
require a broad application be- 
fore it can become a true mass- 
market technology. Until now, 
most CD ROMs have been used 
either for expensive and fairly 
narrow vertical-market infor- 
mation (such as Lotus Develop- 
ment's One Source, which 
includes a great deal of business 
information) or for home tools 
that haven't really caught on 
yet, such as the Grollier Ency- 
clopedia. 

What has been missing from 
the marketplace is a true main- 
stream business application that 
makes the advantages of CD 
ROM technology an integral 
part of a product that will be 
useful to a wide range of users. 

Microsoft's new Bookshelf 
may be that product. A combi- 
nation of writing tools and 
reference books, it provides 
writers with lots of assistance in 
several different areas. 

Once you've set up your CD 
ROM drive, using Bookshelf is 
extremely straightforward. You 
can log onto the CD ROM as if 
it were a large hard disk (albeit 
one with no room left for 
writing new information). Once 
you are logged on to the CD 
ROM player, you can run a 
program on the Bookshelf CD 
ROM that will install a program 
called "Books" on your hard 
disk, or on a floppy disk if you 
don't have a hard drive. 

In turn. Books is a terminate- 
•and-stay-resident (TSR) pro- 
gram that lets you access the 
tools within the Bookshelf CD 
ROM from within manv other 



MS-DOS programs, though it 
was clearly designed as a word 
processing add-on. 

When you invoke Bookshelf, 
a menu appears on top of 
whatever program you're run- 
ning. From here, you can type a 
key to go to a drop-down menu, 
or you can just use an Alt-key 
sequence to perform a particular 
function directly. 

Bookshelf is more than just a 
collection of standard word pro- 
cessing accessories. It contains a 
number of resources that you 
would rarely find on a personal 
computer using old memory 
storage technology — because 
they generally wouldn't fit even 
on a hard disk. 

Among these is the real 
American Heritage Dictionary 
— not just its spellings, but also 
the definitions and hyphen- 
ations that go along with them, 
including thumbnail biogra- 
phies and geography listings. 
Similarly, the Roget's II Elec- 
tronic Thesaurus is much more 
than a list of words in Bookshelf: 
it lists alternative word choices 
as broken down by various 
possible definitions of the word 
you're trying to avoid using. 

Other reference material on 
the CD ROM is quite handy as 
well, including Bartletl's Famil- 
iar Quotations, The World 
Almanac and Book of Facts. 
The Chicago Manual of Style, 
Business Information Sources, a 
ZIP code directory, and some 
common business forms. 

All of these were quite useful; 
in fact much more useful than 
their bound counterparts. When 
you are writing a document with 
these available on CD ROM, 
you can easily stop to look up a 
quotation or to find useful facts 
and figures about a wide variety 
of topics by going to the 
almanac. Similarly, you can 
look up a contact or check a ZIP 
code. 

Of course, you could do all 
this with a printed almanac, 
book of quotations, and ZIP 
code directory. But Bookshelf 
offers two advantages over the 
traditional method. First, it's on 
your computer, so you don't 
have to move your fingers away 





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from the keyboard. Second, you 
can often find whatever infor- 
mation it is that you need much 
faster than you would if you had 
to check around the office to 
find out who had the book, wait 
for them to get back from lunch 
to give it to you. look up the 
information you needed, and 
then find a magnifying glass so 
you could read it without going 
cross-eyed. 

Bookshelf can pick up a word 
on your screen and start a search 
using that word, which saves 
you the trouble of retyping it. In 
fact, the ease and speed at which 
Bookshelf can look up informa- 
tion made me much more likely 
to use it than I would be to use a 
printed reference material. 

Though the reference tools 
were wonderful. I wasn't quite 
as impressed by the writing 
tools. The Houghton Mifflin 
Spelling Verifier and Corrector 
works on either a word or a 
screen, but frankly, the pro- 
grams included with most word 
processors to check spelling are 
both faster and much easier to 



ftrtlcU The Uorld AlManac » Book of FacU (Sekrct 

Edit UlM Saunih Bpom Optlonc Nnct 
Bachelor's Degrees Conferred, 1983-84 
Special Auards 

fterican ftrchltecU and Semm of Their AdileuMaU | 

r«ited Urlterv of the Past 

Historti Begins: 4888 - 1888 BC 

Classical Era of Old Uorld ClwlllzatloiB 

Great EMplres Unite the CiulllZBd Usrld: 488 BC - 480 M) 

rte Peoples Enter HIstonj: 488-988 

Christian Europe RegroupB and EHpands: 980-1380 

Arts and Statecraft Thrlue In Europe; 1350-1688 

Reforwd Europe Expands (hMrseas: 1500-1700 

Change Gathers Stean: 1888-1848 

The Seuen Uonders of the Uorld 

The AfterMth of Uar: 1920-29 

Rise of the Total 1 tarl ans : 1930-39 

Olsllluslonaent: 1970-79 

Creee* 

Peru 



Boolishelf puts The World Almanac ol users' fingertips, requirirrg only 
o lew lieystrokes here to display a list ol articles on Architecture. 



between Bookshelf and your 
word processor. 

Other features within Book- 
shelf include the capability to 
append, copy, and f>aste infor- 
mation to a clipboard and then 
to your document: an on-line 
help facility: and customization 
of the program's colors and hot 
keys. The disk comes with a 
flashy but almost useless user 



There's no doubt about it — 
electronic access is the way of 
the future, and CD ROM is the 
way to get that future right now. 
Now if only the drives were a 
little cheaper . . . 



Bookshelf adjusts its environment according to the program that has 
invoked it. In this example, it was called from Microsoft Word. 



For instance, the user inter- 
face requires you to tab through 
your choices of whether to look 
up, replace, add, or ignore the 
word, and then you must hit the 
space bar to enter your selec- 
tion. Using arrow keys and the 
Return key to go through this 
process would be much easier 
for most users. 

Additionally, though the pro- 
gram lets you skip a word once, 
it does not automatically skip 
the same word later in the 
screen, as even most rudimenta- 
ry spelling packages will. For 
checking individual words, the 
program is acceptable, if not all 
that necessary. 

I had similar reactions to the 
more unusual usage checking 
program. It's fine for checking 
whether a word should be "its" 
or "it's," but I didn't find the 
screen check to be that useful 
because it's slow and awkward. 
For instance, it may flag a word 
it's unsure of — such as "to." 
which might be misused for 
"toward" or "too" — but the 
usage checker's menu covers up 
the document you're checking, 
so you can't see what you're 
checking. You can toggle 



manual, balanced by a quick- 
reference guide which I found 
quite useful. 

In addition, the Bookshelf 
CD ROM contains quick demos 
of a number of Microsoft appli- 
cation programs, as well as the 
Microsoft Word 3.0 tutorial. I 
normally wouldn't like these 
demos taking up precious space 
on one of my disks, but hey, 
with over 600 megabytes to play 
with, who cares? (Bookshelf 
itself takes up over 200 mega- 
bytes of the available CD 
ROM.) 

Microsoft Bookshelf costs 
$295 from Microsoft Corp. 
(16011 N.E. 36th Way. Box 
97017. Redmond, WA 98073: 
[206] 882-8080), and it requires 
an IBM PC or compatible, 
640K of memory, and a CD 
ROM player. In itself it's a good 
price for all this useful informa- 
tion. 

Unfortunately, the CD ROM 
drives themselves are still quite 
expensive. I used Amdek's 
Laserdrive-1 along with Micro- 
soft's CD ROM extensions, con- 
nected to an ALR Access 386. 
Amdek Corp. (1901 Zanker 
Road, San Jose, CA 95112: 



[408] 436-8570) is currently 
selling both the drive and Book- 
shelf for $1,290. which seems 
quite high compared with the 
price of an audio CD player. We 
can only hope that prices will go 
down as drive manufacturers 
sell more units. 

Bookshelf was designed to 
work with eight popular word 
processing packages, including 
Microsoft Word 2.0 and later. 
Word Pferfect 4.2. Wordstar 4, 
Volkswriter 3, PC Write 2.71, 
Xywrilc III and III Plus, Dis- 
playwrite 3, and Multimate Ad- 
vantage I. It can also be invoked 
from Lotus 1-2-3, Multiplan, or 
the DOS command line. 

Unlike most RAM-resident 
programs, it knows which pro- 
gram it was invoked for. so if 
you invoke it while running 
Word Perfect, it will name that 
program on the top line of its 
menu. This lets the program do 
the best it can to work with its 
environment. For instance, 
when I was running Microsoft 
Word 4.0 in graphics mode, it 
automatically toggled Word 
into text mode bpfore displaying 
the Bookshelf main menu. That 
was a nice touch. 

A Rcad.Mc file warns against 
running Bookshelf along with 
other RAM-resident programs, 
though in my tests it seemed to 
work fine with Ready (but not 
with Desqview). 

Not all of Bookshelfs tools 
are quite as polished as they 
could be. but taken as a whole, 
the package has more than 
enough resources to keep any 
writer happy. As I used Book- 
shelfs reference materials. I 
realized that 1 would never again 
be satisfied with my printed 
dictionary, thesaurus, book of 
quotations, or almanac. There's 
no doubt about it — electronic 
access is the way of the future, 
and CD ROM is the way to get 
that future right now. 

Now if only the drives were a 
little cheaper. 

first look examines new personal 
computer products before they 
have been through a formal 
review. 



Cl 



INFO 
WORLD 



63 



SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 




Although Q&A Write 

doesn't do 
everything the big, 

hairy word 
processors do, it has 
plenty of power for 
the average user 
and a number of 
nice little tricks that 
even the big guys 
don't have. 



• REVIEWS SCORING 

InfoWorld reviews only 
finished, production ver- 
sions of products, never 
beta test versions. 

All products receive 
scores ranging from unac- 
ceptable to excellent in 
various categories. We 
then weight the scores in 
different categories (giv- 
ing the most weight to the 
performance and value 
categories) to produce an 
overall numeric score for 
the product. Scores 
should be judged as 
follows: 

10 — EzMllMri 9- 10: _ 

Tops in its class 

VwyCood 7-T9 

Meets all essential 
criteria and offers 
significant advan- 
tages 



«-6.9 

Meets essential cri- 
teria and includes 
some special fea- 
tures 

Setisfectory 5 - 5*9 

Meets essential cri- 
teria 

Poor 3-4.9 

Falls short in 
essential areas 

UMiiophMo 1-2.9 

Foils to meet 
minimum standards 



Also Included 
In This Section 

VP Expert 67 

' XYZ Model ....74 



Q&A Write 

Word Processor Standout Program in Its Market 

Lotus, Dbase Integration, and File Card Manager Come as Bonus 

By Diana Gobaldon Review Board 



gUREU 



Symantec found a 
successful formula with 
its Q&A program — a 
database manager 
combined adroitly with 
a small word processor. 
Now the firm has fol- 
lowed up with Q&A 
Write, which instead 
combines a word pro- 
cessor with a small 
database manager. 

Q&A Write is a su- 
perb choice for users 
wanting something un- 
intimidating and easy 
to use but with a fair 
amount of power. Al- 
though Q&A Write 
doesn't do everything 
the big. hairy word 
processors do, it has 
plenty of power for the 
average user and a 
number of nice little 
tricks that even the big guys 
don't have. 

FEATURES: 

The program works mainly off 
the function keys, but there are 
several different menus, each 
with its own function-key defi- 
nitions. A menu at the bottom 
of the screen shows several of 
the most useful current func- 
tions, and the Fl key gives a 
complete function-key list, to- 
gether with other help informa- 
tion. In addition, you can 
embed special commands in the 
text to control things like 
justification, printer and Post- 
script codes (for use with laser 
printers), and line spacing. 

Q&A Write has all the stan- 
dard cursor moves, but its Go 
To command also lets you move 
to a sf)ecific line of a particular 
page. You can also 
mark a place in text to 
return to. but only one 
marker at a lime will 
operate. When mark- 
ing a text block, you 
can use all the cursor 
keys as well as the 
character keys to select 
text from the cursor up 
to a particular charac- 
ter. There is no delete 
to end of line com- 
mand. 

Macros are con- 
structed from a sepa- 
rate pop-up menu. 
However, you must 
save and retrieve sets of 
macros separately for 
each file. You can re- 
trieve a macro file and 
edit macros individual- 
ly. 

Print enhancements 
include italics as well as 



did easy Integration ulth Utus l-Z-3 and dBASE set It 
apart from most other toir-end uord processors. 



Search for. . : 



Replace ulth: 

Method »^1anual4 Automatic Fast autoMatlc 

Type ^Uhole uords^ Text Pattern 

Case ^Insensitlue^ Sensltlue 

Range ^All^^ To end To bestnnlns 



Z52-S78e Is technical support Tor registered users. <408> 
253-9668 Is technical support for non-registered users. 
Lj [ LLi.TllllzllllT""3'-"-'-T""l""T""5"""lllc,lllllll3 L7LIJXLU 
Insert 6 X Line 1 of Page 7 of 7 



Esc-Cancsl PjUp-Reg Options F3-«lear F8-^Wia Dtfuilt F?, FIB-Bagln Snroh 



O&A Write can search and replace at three speeds, showing changes on-screen it 
manual and automatic modes, but simply making changes in memory in lost auto mode. 



boldface, underlining, sub- and 
superscript, strikeout, and 
special fonts. (These last have to 
be defined for your printer 
before they can be used.) Q&A 
Write is not a WYSIWYG pack- 
age, but it does indicate print 
enhancements on-screen. Un- 
like most other word processors, 
Q&A Write shows not only the 
page breaks, but the top and 
bottom margins of each page as 
well. 

The program has interesting 
frills such as a Draw function, 
which lets you draw straight 
lines and is as good as many 
drawing packages we've seen. 
Still more interesting is Q&A 
Write's miniature database han- 
dler. You can enter a card file 
from the main menu and edit, 
search, or sort a database with 
up to 1 ,000 records, up to 1 80 



fields per record. 240 characters 
per field, and a maximum 
record length of 2.000 
characters. The card file has a 
good selection of easy-to-use 
search procedures — "string 
equals." "does not equal." "is 
greater than." "is less than." 
"string begins with, ends with, 
or includes x." You can also use 
the Boolean Or. but there is no 
And available. 

Information from the card 
file is output as a straight ASCII 
text file so it can be used by 
other programs as well as Q&A 
Write. While you can mail- 
merge card file information in a 
variety of word processing jobs, 
there is a separate Print Mailing 
Labels function. It sets up a 
mailing label job with one com- 
mand, which summons a setup 
menu. 



Low-End Word Pro<essor Benchmarks 




Easy 


PFJ 




Volkswriter 


WrHe 


Test 


Eltro 


Professional 


QU WrHe 


Deluxe Plus 


NawPC 


Load File 


0:01 


0:01 


0:02 


0:02 


0:02 


Save/Continue 


0:04 


0:01 


0:01 


0:03 


0:02 


Save/Exit 


N/A 


N/A 


N/A 


0:03 


0:03 


ASCII Import 


0:02 


0:03 


0:03 


N/A 


0:02 


ASCII Export 


Doc. Mode 


0:02 


0:02 


N/A 


0:02 


DCA Translate 


N/A 


0:17 


N/A 


N/A 


N/A 


Cursor Top/Bottom 


0:02 


Immediate 


Immediate 


Immediate 


Immediate 


Manual Scroll 


0:35 


0:36 


0:03 


0:35 


0:35 


Margin Reformat 


N/A 


0:04 


0:02 


Para, only 


0:04 


Repage 20 Pages 


Continuous 


Continuous 


Continuous 


Toggle 


Continuous 


Search/last Word 


0:04 


0:04 


Immediate 


Immediate 


0:01 


Search/Replace 


2:06 


0:47 


0:07 


0:23 


0:20 


Append Document 


0:06 


0:01 


0:04 


0:02 


0:02 


System Configuration; IBM AT wilh 640K RAM Test File: 40 poragrophs. 



Q&A Write's spell- 
ing checker uses a 
66.000-word diction- 
ary. Although the pro- 
gram does not include 
a thesaurus, you can 
buv one from Svman- 
tec for $49. Q&A Write 
offers good in-docu- 
ment math as well as 
the capability of insert- 
ing Lotus 1-2-3 spread- 
sheets or chunks 
thereof In fact, the 
capability to insert vir- 
tually anylhing into a 
document is one of the 
program's strong 
points. You can add 
graphs, tables, spread- 
sheets, separate docu- 
ments, text blocks, and 
so on by using a Join 
command or one of its 
variations. You can di- 
rectly import ASCII files and 
PFS Write files. With Syman- 
tec's optional $29 import 
utility, you can import files 
from PFS Professional Write. 
Word Perfect, and 1.1 other 
word processing programs. 

One of the few ease-of-use 
packages that suppxirts laser 
printers. Q&A Write allows al- 
ternate font usage. This means, 
for example, that you could set 
up a letterhead in. say. 16-point 
Times Roman Bold and then 
type the text of your letter in the 
standard 10-point Pica font. 
Which specific fonts are avail- 
able to you depend on your 
printer. Special fonts are sup- 
plied by the printer vendor or 
outside software; Q&A Write 
just allows you to use or modify 
them. 

Maximum document size is 
140 pages (160 pages 
with expanded memo- 
ry), which is probably 
enough for most 
applications. 



PERFORMANCE: 

Q&A Write's design 
shows a lot of thought 
and imagination. For 
example, movement 
keys arc "nested." so 
that striking the same 
key repeatedly moves 
you in increasing incre- 
ments in a given direc- 
tion. Home, for in- 
stance, moves you to 
the beginning of a line, 
the top of the screen, 
the top of the page, and 
the top of the file if you 
press it once, twice, 
three, or four times. 

Our tests show that 
Q&A Write is quite 



64 

StPHMBERll, 1987 



Sc3ft:ware Reviews 



INFO 
WORLD 



fast, especially at manually 
scrolling (more than 10 times 
faster than the competition) and 
searching and replacing. (See the 
accompanying benchmark 
table.) 

Integrating Lotus 1-2-3 
spreadsheets and Dbase pro- 
grams into our documents went 
very smoothly. In fact, you can 
adjust Q&A Write for program 
editing, and it makes Dbase 
programs very simple to edit 
and export. 

The card file works very 
nicely. You can have a card file 
in operation simultaneously 
with a word processing docu- 
ment (though you may not have 
two documents open simulta- 
neously). We noticed only two 
flaws in the card file. First, you 
can't insert a new field between 
two existing fields: instead, you 
must add it to the end of the 
card record, an aesthetically 
displeasing approach if for ex- 
ample, you have inadvertently 
left the city field out of a name 
and address file and have to put 
it after the ZIP code or start 
over. The second flaw is that 
moving the cursor to a new field 
causes the Insert mode to revert 
to Overstrike. 

The program is designed to 
be very simple to use but to 
provide more power as the user 
becomes more familiar with it. 
Therefore, several functions are 
two-tiered. The simple version 
is called first, with the more 
advanced version available on 
request. A simple search, for 
example, takes place irrespec- 
tive of case and direction: it 
searches from cursor to end of 
file, with a choice of manual, 
automatic, or fast automatic 
speeds. Fast auto is twice as fast 
as automatic, which leads one to 
wonder why one would ever 
choose plain automatic. The 
answer is that plain automatic 
shows changes on-screen as they 
are made, so you can catch a 
possible unwanted change or 
interrupt the Replace function. 
Fast auto makes all the changes 
in memory and then rewrites the 
screen afterward. The more ad- 
vanced search menu lets you 
specify case, pattern match, and 
search direction. The simple 
search will not find embedded 
words but the advanced search 
will. 

Q&A Write works very well 
for undemanding applications 
and really has enough power for, 
say. 80 percent of most word 
processing tasks. What doesn't 
it do that higher end packages 
do? Well, you can't do column- 
block manipulations, even 
though you can print in col- 
umns. There are no windows, 
and you can't have simulta- 
neous documents in operation. 
The program doesn't handle 
footnotes, although headers and 
footers are available. 

Mail-merging is quick and 
easy, but you can't program 
mail-merges for conditional or 
interactive modes as you can 
with more powerful programs. 
There is no direct typing capa- 
bility, no outlining function, no 
indexing, no hyphenation, no 
multiple file use. no widow- 



orphan control, no style sheets, 
and no special characters 
(though you may be able to get 
some of these by using alternate 
fonts). If you don't need any of 
these things, you should be very 
happy with Q&A Write. 

In its market. Q&A Write is a 
standout program. It's particii- 
larly fast at many tasks, especial- 
ly scrolling manually through a 
file and at executing search/ 
replace. Its integration of 1-2-3 
spreadsheets and Dbase files and 



its card file feature are also 
bonuses. We rate Q&A Write a 
very good performer. 

DOCUMENTATION: 

Documentation consists of one 
small spiral-bound manual. 
Considering the amount of ma- 
terial it contains, its compact 
size is surprising. Explanations 
are clear and well-organized. 
The manual also contains a 
good index and 10 appendixes, 
which deal mostly with how to 



integrate Q&A Write with other 
packages like Lotus 1-2-3. D- 
base II and III, and Wordstar. 

Help screens are plentiful 
and reasonably well-organized. 
However, there is not really 
context-sensitive help. You will 
get a help screen having some- 
thing to do with the matter at 
hand, but most help screens are 
command summaries that con- 
tain a large amount of general 
information. We rate documen- 
tation as very good. 



EASE OF LEARNING: 

You can be editing a document 
within five minutes, and even 
those unfamiliar with databases 
will have no trouble at all 
figuring out the card file. There 
is a tutorial for only the card file, 
but it isn't really needed for the 
word processing part of the 
program. Menus are clear and 
helpful, information is available 
from Fl at any time, and it's 
din"icult to go astray. We rate 
ease of learning as excellent. 



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PC 



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i-hina amazing 
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„ . Significant advance .n^- 
The Saba Handscan. A ^I^CK 

It actually reads ^ 




, . ... ... ■ m 

^ . _,..„.tivity tool ever - . , ■ 



^ A rtivity tool ever 

„,t significant P'^^**"'^^' , Hands down. 

devised tor 



PRINCIPAL BEG BAL ITD 

IHTE.RE5T EARNED MTD 
INTEFJEST ACCRUED ITD 
GROSS BEG BAL ITD 
DISCOUNT UNEARNED ITD 
DISCOUNT EARNED MTD 
C-rJOSS BEG BAL ITD-I 
DISCOUNT UNEARNED ITD-I 
DISCOUNT EARNED MTD-I 
DEALER RESERVE BEG BAL-1 
INSURANCE BEG BAL MTD 
FORCE-CLOSE LOSS BEG MTD 
LOANS IN PROCESS BEG BAL 
SECONDARY PRIN BEG BAL ITD 
SECONDARY INT EARNED MTD 
SECONDARY INT ACCRUED ITD 

BRANCH TOTALS 



7,378. It 
17,689.27 
0.00 
0.00 
0.00 
552,<t55.06 
76,879.28 
1,503.47 
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7,378.14 
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0.00 
0.00 
558,703.44 
77,218.25 

40,201 




Speed up data entry Do it by hand, 



INFO 
WORLD 



_*5 

SEPTEMBER 2), 1987 



EASE OF USE: 

O&A Write is quite easy to use. 
Menus arc ver> well-organized, 
and the program's operation is 
logical and smooth. 

When you retric\e a docu- 
ment from disk, it comes back 
with the cursor not at the top of 
the document but in the same 
place where you left it. This is a 
nice touch that we believe will 
encourage users to save docu- 
ments frequently. 

Most high-end word proces- 



sors treat blanks and carriage 
returns as characters and will 
not allow the cursor to go any 
place on the screen not covered 
by a character. But Q&A Write 
is like some other word 
processors in letting the cursor 
cruise anywhere on the screen 
you want. Some prefer this full- 
screen cursor control, others 
find it annoying. Q&.\ Write 
also treats tabs as collections of 
individual spaces, so you can't 
delete a tab character in one 



stroke: again, a matter of 
individual preference. However, 
the search function will search 
for carriage returns, page breaks, 
and print enhancements, which 
is convenient. 

We rate ease of use as excel- 
lent. 

ERROR HANDLING: 

During our testing, we could not 
get the program to crash, even 
though we tried many odd 
keystroke combinations. Q&A 



Write s error messages are very 
clear. There's also an appendix 
in the manual that further ex- 
plains the messages. 

The Delete buffer has an 
Undo. In addition, a Restore 
Text function lets you retrieve 
any accidental deletions. We 
rate error handling good. 

SUPPORT: 

Support is free to registered 
users, although calls are not toll- 
free. Hours are K a m. to .'^ p.m. 



Voa're akiMit to witMU soMtkiif MMiiif. 

It actaally ruis ctapvter priatoats. A«d typa4 skaets. 

Vm select tke iefoiMtim yoe Me4. 

Per less tkea $651. scae directly iito Lotas i-2-3. 

niHCIPM. IK ML m 2827738.21 2827841.21 



1 

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7378.14 
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Pacific time, except for lunch. 
When we called the support 
line, all the technicians were 
busy. We were called back in 
five hours, and the information 
we were given was quite good. 
Extended support plans as well 
as a bulletin board service are 
also available. 

Not only will the vendor 
replace defective media, but the 
program comes with a .10-day 
money-back guarantee. Q&A 
Write is not copy-protected. 

Because of the money-back 
guarantee, the free support, and 
the lack of copy protection, we 
rate support very gotxi. 

VALUE: 

In the market for easv-to-learn 
and easy-to-use DOS word 
processors, Q&A Write ($199) 
competes with the likes of PFS: 
Professional Write (also $199). 
MicroPro's Easy Extra ($149). 
and Webster's New World Writ- 
er ($ 1 50). 

What sets Q&A Write apart 
are its card file database 
manager, its easy integration 
with l otus 1-2-.' and Dbase 
files, and its draw functions. We 
rate Q&A Write a very good 
value. 

Dr. Diona Coboldon is the 
founder and editor of Science 
Software and director of the 
Arizona State University Scientific 
[)oiobase Facility. 



'JBas«olAs^tu^TJl« RBa^eofMiaorimincorporiied SatuandHandscanufSibJ TecnnologtK. Inc 



INFO 
WORLD 



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SUMMARY 



One of the best of the easy-to- 
use word processors. Q&A 
Write olTers speed and inte- 
gration with Lotus 1-2-3 and 
Dbase files. Not copy-pro- 
tected. For the IBM PC.' Pros: 
Smooth operation: good de- 
sign: the built-in card file is 
really special. Cons: Lacks 
windows and simultaneous 
document use. 



PRODUCT OETAIIS 



I ist price. $199. Version test- 
ed (1.0) available lor IBM 
PCs. XTs. ATs. and compati- 
bles. Requires MS- or PC- 
DOS 2.0 or later. 384K of 
RAM (512K recommended), 
two floppy drives or one 
floppy and a hard drive. 
Symantec Corp.. 10201 Tor- 
re Ave.. Cupertino. CA 
95014: (408)253-9600. 



No matter how you look at it , 
Boeing Gr^h says it better 



Boeing Graph brings business graphics to 
life, and allows you to express your ideas 
in bold, colorful, multi-dimensional form. 

It displays complex ideas clearly, giving 
you the power to persuade and inform. 

It's fast, easy to use and efficient with help 
screens and on-screen function key de- 
scriptors. Selea from 33 types of 3D 
graphs. Rotate them on any — or all — 
axes to find the perspective that best 
makes your point. That's one of 20 real- 
time animation functions — others 



include zoom, pan and stretch. Boeing 
Graph also gives new power to two- 
dimensional graphs, enriching them 
with color and shading. 

Boeing Graph is designed for your IBM 
PC XT, AT,* Personal System/2" or com- 
patible. You'll find it's easy to import 
multi-dimensional data directly from 
Boeing Calc, a powerful spreadsheet with 
multi-dimensional capability. Or you can 
import from other commonly used 
spreadsheets like Lotus' 1-2-3.' 



When you ^rint, Boeing Graph's unique 
Superprint filature automatically uses 
the highest available resolution on your 
dot matrix, ink jet or laser printer. 

Boeing Graph. It brings business 
graphics to life. For a demo diskette and 
the name of the dealer nearest you, call 
1-800-368-4555. Or write Boeing Computer 
Services, RO. Box 24346, M/S 7W-05, 
Seattle, WA 98124-0346. 



Sc3ft:ware Reviews 



WP Expert 

Inexpensive Program Designs 
Expert Systems for Novices 



By Paul Siegel Review Board 

Because of the hoopla about expert 
systems, there is much uncertainly about 
what an expert system is and how you go 
about building one. But the concept is 
actually simple: An expert system lets 
you store and use the problem-solving 
know-how of skilled and know ledgeable 
people — for example, physicians, archi- 
tects, or geologists. 

The hype, myths, and plain misinfor- 
mation about expert systems abound 
largely because of the huge amounts of 
time and research that went into creating 
the first ones. The fact is. researchers 
soon found that the functions of the 
expert system didn't have to be limited to 
working with a particular type of infor- 
mation. Instead, the "brain" of an expert 
system could be made to operate on 
many different types of knowledge; and 
that discover) made possible the expcrt- 
system-building programs on the market 
today. 

True, most of these products are 
complicated, expensive, and intended for 
experienced programmers and large 
computers. Not so with Paperback Soft- 
ware's VP Expert. It runs on the IBM PC 
and compatibles with 256K of RAM and 
MS-DOS 2.0 or later, it's easy for non- 
programmers to use; it has many of the 
capabilities of much more expensive 
products; and it's priced al just under 
$100. 

FEATURES: 

VP Expert offers an excellent comple- 
ment of features for the novice expert 
system developer. It takes you through all 
the steps of creating an expert system, 
from data entry through a typical "con- 
sultation" session with the client or end- 
user. 

The first and most intimidating task is 
entering information into the expert 
system. VP Expert reduces the time this 
step takes by accepting ASCII text or 
input from a spreadsheet or database file. 
Once you've entered data into the 
information-storage portion of the sys- 
tem (the "knowledge base"). VP Expert's 
editor analyzes the data and derives the 
rules that govern it. creating a file 
containing those rules. (Naturally, the 
axiom "garbage in. garbage out" applies.) 
You can analyze the raw data yourself 
and form your own rules, or you can use 
either VP Expert's built-in editor or your 
own favorite word processor to modify or 
supplement the data or the rules in the 
knowledge base. 

VP Expert can call external programs, 
and it can also exchange information 
with database programs, ASCII files, and 
spreadsheets (operating on a specified 
range of rows and columns at a time). VP 
Expert runs in the background while the 
called program (a batch file or indeed any 
other type of program) runs in the 
foreground. When the called program is 
done, the system returns to DOS and VP 
Expert picks up again right where it left 
off. 

Once you've put all the necessary 
information into the knowledge base. VP 
Expert checks for syntax errors and gives 
you the chance to correct them. The next 
step is to test the knowledge base by 
seeing how it behaves when a client or 
user comes to consult it. VP Expert does 
so by taking you through a simulated 



consultation session. 

Multiple windows make the proce- 
dure easy: The first window displays the 
rules that are being tested as they're being 
tested; the second window shows the 
conclusions that VP Expert has reached 
based on the information in the knowl- 
edge base; and the third window lists the 
questions that the client or user would be 
asked. When the simulated consultation 
is done. VP Expert displays either text or 
a graphical tree that illustrates the 
complete reasoning path the program 
took to reach its conclusions. 

In real life, you answer questions the 



expert system asks. The system then 
applies stored rules to those answers, in 
most cases through "backward chaining" 
— reasoning from goals to facts. VP 
Expert can also perform a limited type of 
"forward chaining" — reasoning irom 
facts to goals. When the reasoning 
process is done, the system displays its 
advice to the client. 

If the answer to a question isn't a 
simple yes or no. VP Expert lets you 
assign a "confidence factor" (a number 
from zero to 100) to an answer. The 
builder of the system can also assign a 
confidence factor that the user need 
never see. 

PERFORMANCE: 

After you've created or imported the 
knowledge base for your expert s\stem. 
you'll spend most of the rest of your 
design time fine-tuning the system's 
interface with its users. You do this via 
the windows in VP Expert's Consulting 
mode. When you're in this mode, your 
monitor displays three windows, one 
occupying the top half of the screen and 
two sharing the bottom half. The upper 
window shows the dialogue — the 
questions VP Expert asks and the 
answers you select from a multiple- 
choice menu. This monitor also is where 
the system displays its advice when it 
arrives at a conclusion. 

The bottom two windows help the 
system's developer find logical flaws in 
the knowledge base. The Rules window, 
on the lower left, shows the rule that the 
system is currently testing; and the 
Results window, on the lower right, 
shows partial and final conclusions the 
system reaches as the consultation pro- 
gresses. When the expert system is ready 
for use by the client, the Rules and 
Results windows can be removed, 
leaving only the dialogue window. 

The knowledge base consists of three 
basic groupings: an "Actidns block." 
rules, and statements. 



The Actions block is where you place 
clauses that represent the sequence in 
which you want the consultation to 
proceed. For example, you can include a 
Display clause that introduces the expert 
system, a Find clause to tell the system 
the goal variable you want it to search for 
by reasoning with its stored rules, and 
another Display clause to show the 
advice the system has to offer at the end 
of the consultation. 

The words Display and Rnd are 
"keywords" — words you must use in 
introducing these clauses. You must also 
use them in writing rules. For example, a 
rule to determine w hether the driver of a 
car is responsible for causing an accident 
might say: // driver judgment — good 
And driver speed = proper Ami driver 
maneuver = proper Then accident 
responsibility = no. CNF 100. (See 
illustration. Page 70.) The keywords here 
are If. And. Then, and CNF. CNF 
("confidence") indicates the degree of 
certainty of the conclusion, w hich in this 



case would be 100 percent. 

You can add an Else clause after the 
Then clause to specify what should 
happen if the If clause is false. You can 
also add a Because clause to the Then or 
Else clause to make VP Expert display 
the reasoning that led it to its 
conclusions. 

VP Expert uses such statements pri- 
marily to define the variables in the 
expert system. Among the more impor- 
tant ones arc those introduced with the 
keywords Ask and Choices. The Ask 
statement defines the question to be 
asked by VP Expert, and the Choices 
statement presents the legal answers to 
the question. 

When you select Induce from the 
main menu. VP Expert converts a table 
into correctly formatted individual rules 
rather than decision trees. However. VP 
Expert's inductive powers seem to be 
limited. For a 50-line table, it gave us 



67 

SEPTEMBOt 21, 1987 



about 50 rules — cITectively one rule for 
each line. The ratio can var\. but only 
slightly, depending on the amount of 
data. Even though numerical values were 
given in the table. VP Expert could not 
come up with fewer, more general rules 
using numerical relationships. The main 
purpose of the Induction feature is to 
allow quick prototyping and feasibility 
determination. The text editor is for fine- 
tuning the rules that are induced and for 
adding flexibility in handling uncer- 
tainties. 

.Access to external files and programs 
multiplies VP Expert's functional capa- 
bilities tremendously. For example, you 
can use a sophisticated number-crunch- 
ing or statistical analysis program to help 
the expert system make a decision, or 
you can use the the expert system to 
simplify the interface between the user 
and complex simulation software. 

VP Expert's interfacing capability and 
its use of induction and w indows are fine. 
Offsetting this, however, is the need to 
remember keywords and syntax rules. 
We rate performance sen. good. 

DOCUMENTATION: 

1 he manual consists of a very simplified 
hands-on "Getting Started" tutorial for 
beginners, a discussion of access to 
external database and spreadsheet pack- 
ages(forexample. Lotus 1-2-3. Dbase III. 
VP Info, and VP Planner), and a 
reference guide. 

The tutorial is excellent. It uses 
sample knowledge bases as examples and 
takes you stcp-by-step through the proce- 
dures of accessing files, writing and 
editing the knowledge base, and manag- 
ing a consultation session. At each point 
the manual shows exactly what you 
should be seeing on your monitor. 

Unfortunately, the manual drops the 
tutorial approach in describing access to 
external programs. This section is more 
difficult to follow, and step-by-step 
explanations of the process would have 
helped imtnensely. 

The many examples in the reference 
section make up for its sometimes 
abstruse, programmer-oriented approach 
to explaining syntax. 

The manual has a bibliography — a 
nice touch — and an index. We rate 
documentation good. 

EASE OF LEARNING: 

VP Expert is easy to learn primarily 
because of its tutorial, which is organized 
\er\' well. Once you're familiar with the 
procedure of designing an expert system, 
the program's equally well-organized 
menus let you work smoothly and 



INFO ,,, 

WORLD 

REPORT CARD 
SOFTWARE 

VP EXPERT 



7.5 


Unacceptable 


Poor 


Satisfact07 


Very Good 
Excellent 


Performance 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ STD 


Documentation 


□ 


□ 


□ 


is-n □ 


Ease of Learning 


□ 


□ 


□ 


IB' □ □ 


Ease of Use 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ ffl' L] 


Error Handling 


□ 


□ 


□ 


H- □ □ 


Support 


□ 


□ 





Value □ □ □ □ □ H' 



SUMMARY 



A well-designed program that lets 
novice users develop small to medium- 
size expert systems on the IBM PC and 
compatibles. Copy-protected; non- 
copy-protected version available for an 
extra $10. Pros: Interface with external 
programs: well-written tutorials and 
menus; easy to learn and use; inexpen- 
sive. Cons: No free support; $ 1 0 fee for 
non-eopy-protected disk. 



PRODUCT DETAILS 



List price. $99. Version tested (1.0 1) 
available for the IBM PC or compati- 
bles running MS-IX)S 2.0 or later. 
Requires 256K of RAM. two floppy 
drives, and an IBM CGA or compatible 
graphics card for display of graphic 
traces. Paperback Software, 2830 Ninth 
St., Berkeley, CA 94710; (415) 644- 
2116. 



The first and most intimidating task is 
entering information into the expert 
system. VP Expert reduces the time this 
step takes by accepting ASCII text or 
input from a spreadsheet or database 
file. 



386 POWER FOR $1895l 
DELIVERED NOW! 





The PS/386U 
opHonfora/i 
sysfems. 

Thk floor- 
standine 

PS/386"' MODEL 10 / "^"^^ 

Ten times faster than IBM 
Three times faster than IBM-AT.® 

Perfect platform for desktop publishing, CAD/ CAM, 
Lotus and Networks. Simply the fastest, 16 MHz 386 
system available at any price! Includes standard 1 MB 
of 32-bit, zero-wait-state RAM, Western Digital disk 
controller plus cables (controls two floppy disks and 
two hard disks, 1:1 Interleave controller also available), 
Teac 1.2 MB floppy drive (it reads and writes 360K 
disks, too!). 200-watt low-noise power supply, 101-key 
enhanced- AT keyboard, clock/ calendar with battery 
backup. Fully IBM-AT® and Compaq-386® 
compatible, with 8 expansion slots, room for up to 
5 drives, and a two-year warranty! Make this high- 
horsepower system 

yours now QQR 
for only ^ | ^0%l3a 

PS/386 MODEL 20 

Super Monochrome system 

Here's our basic Monochrome System with all the 
MODEL 10 features, plus a Samsung monochrome 
monitor, Hercules-compatible monochrome-graphics 
adaptor, 44-MB hard disk (28 millisecond access time, 
formatted if you like), MS-DOS and 
GW BASIC, two serial ports and 
two parallel ports 




$2,995. 



PS/386 MODEL 30 

Complete EGA system with hard disk 

A fully-configured power system for the demanding 
user, at a price thousands less than the other guys! 
Includes all MODEL 10 features, plus a 44-MB hard 
disk (28 millisecond access time, formatted if you like), 
Samsung EGA monitor, EGA adaptor (supporting full 
16 color, 640 x 350 resolution), MS-DOS and GW 
BASIC, two serial ports and one 
parallel port. A real mustang C^hK 
for t^OymJ^JOa 

PS/386 MODEL 40 
Super EGA system 

Corral this Super EGA System for your outfit! Includes 
aU MODEL 10 features, plus a NEC Multisync EGA 
monitor, Video-Seven Vega Deluxe auto-switching 
EGA adaptor (800 x 600 resolution card also 
available!), 44-MB hard disk (28 millisecond access 
time, formatted if you like), MS-DOS and GW 
BASIC, two serial ports and one 
parallel port. A proven thorough- 
bred for 



$3y995a 



Good old-fashioned service, support and value. 



Cl 






ORDER YOUR 388 SYSTEM WITH THESE 
TOP-QUAUTY PRODUCTS INSTALLED 



Economy display 
options 





32-Bit Memory 

Order your system with 1 to 10 megabytes of 
32-bit, zero- wait-state memory. Use this extra 
memory for Extended or Expanded LIM 
(Lotus/ Intel/ Microsoft) applications. $385 for 
additional 1 MB. $795 for 2-MBpiggy-back 
board. 8-MB piggy-back board: SZ,435. Other 
options are also available. 



80387 and 80287 Math Co-Processors 

Saddle up the Intel 80387 or 80287 math co- 
processors and watch programs like Lotus 1-2-3 
and AutoCAD run like the wind. The lightning-fast 
16 MHz 80387 is $599 (special adaptor, $95), or 
order with the 8 M Hz 80287 for only $269. 



Autoswitching EGA 
adaptor cards 

The perfect pardner for 
your multisync monitor 
Video-Seven Vega Deluxe, 
high-res EGA up to 752 » 410 
resolution. Only $329. 

Genoa Super High-Res 
EGA, up to 800 X 600 
resolution: $429. 

Multisync monitor 

Top-of-thc-linc NEC 
Multisync monitor $549. 



EGA monitor by Samsung: 

$39a 

Standard EGA adaptor 
(16 color, 640 «3S0). $178. 



Samsung's 

monochrome 

monitor 

$109. 



Monochrome, Hercules- 
compatible adaptor card: 

$6a 




Hard disks 

( All .m OUTFITTERS 
drives have 2(i-milli.second, or 
better access times, and can 
be ordered formatted and 
partitioned for an additional 
$100.) 44-MB Microscience, 
half-height $575. 70-MB 
Micropolis. full-height: $875 
170-MB Micropolis (formats 
to 150 MB), lull-height, 
includes high-speed 
controller: $1,595. 




I 












Tape backup systems 
40-MB Mountain: $595. 

60-MB Genoa: $757. 
( Fastest drive available) 




Postscript laser printer 

Output your desktop-published 
documents to the super-fast 
Texas Instruments Omnilaser 
2108. Print eight pages per 
minute with this 300 dpi (dots 
per inch) printer: $4^595. 



Scanner 

Scan text (OCR), graphics, 
pictures, into your computer. 
The Dcst PC-Scan will 
complete your professional 
desktop publishing operation. 
Don't leave the ranch 
without it: $2,995. 



Serial/Parallel Card 

Add a parallel and serial port 
to your system on a single 
haif-size card. Only 
Second serial port on same 
card: $39. 




Ultra-High res monitor 

by Cornerstone. Display two 
fuU PC/ PageMaker or 
Ventura Publisher pages on 
this dazzling 1600 ' 1280 
display. Runs all your DOS 
programs, and includes 
high-speed graphics 
accelerator: $1^95. 



3860DTnT1IRS 



2516 Samaritan Drive • BIdg. C-205 • San Jose, CA 95124 
To order by Visa, MasterCard, certified check, money order, C.O.D. 
or purchase order, please call 

1 -800/338-8386 H 

In California: 408/356-4457 



■ TM 



Shipping and handling charges, and tax (where applicable) will be added to the above prices Prices and 
specifications are subject to change without notice 
386 OUTFITTERS is a trademark of 386 OUTFITTERS. IBM-XT and IBM-AT are registered Irademarks ol IBM. 
Compaq 386 is a registered trademark oi Compaq Computer Corp.. PS;'386 and UPRIGHT are Irademarks of 
Trrllian Computer Corporation AM other Irademarks are recognized and acknowledged 

386 OUTFITTERS is an authorized reseller of Trillian Power Systems PS/386. 



70 

SEPTEMBIR 21, 1987 



Soft:ware Reviews 



INFO 
WORLD 



Uas the naneuuer the driuer nade legally alloued? 
«es ■< (*j 

Did the driuer Elgn*! correctly? 
yes 4 Nd 

The driuer Ic Responsible CNF 88 for the accident. 






Finding Correct_Signal 
Testing 3 

RULE 3 IF 

Judgenent = Fair WC 
Approp.Speed = Ves WO 
Proper ttaneuuer = Ves 
THEN 

Responsibility = Responsible CNF 88 




Apprap_Speed = Ves CHF IBB 
AUoued_hfaneuuer = Ves CNF 180 
Correci.Slgnal = Ves CNF 188 
Proper_Haneuuer = Vec CNF 188 
Kesponslbllltij = Responsible CNF 88 



Kesponsilility 




lesting 1 




JuJgrwnt 



ipprop.Sptel' 



- Testing 4 

- (: Ctod CW 

\ (: No Off IB 



listing 2 



■ Proper Jhntuver Testing II 

(: Its CW 1 



USE nmous, pqip, pgdn to noue sitcE lo zom out 



In Consultant mode, the programmer can fine-tune the model. The top window asks 
multiple-choice questions; the left bottom window shows the rule being tested; the third 
window lists conclusions. In linol form, only the top window is displayed. 



efriciently. Last, the three-part structure 
of the Actions block in the knowledge 
base helps you organize the tasks in your 
own mind. 

It"s too bad that there is no tutorial 
that would teach users about interfacing 
with external programs. It's too bad. also, 
that VP Expert's on-line help facility is 
not very enlightening. When you appeal 
to it. it asks \ou what sort of help you 
need, but alas, in the five or six times we 
used it, it never asked us the right 
question, and so we were forced to refer 
back to the manual for further illumi- 
nation. 

Although VP Expert's knowledge 
base, menu structures, and tutorial are 
great, its help facility and the information 
it offers about interfaces are not so great. 
Overall, wc rate VP Expert's ease of 
learning good. 

EASE OF USE: 

Switching from VP Expert's editing 
mode to the program's consulting mode 
is very easy, which makes it a snap for 
users to test immediately the elTect of any 
changes they are Irving to make in the 
knowledge base. 



Before you enter consulting mode, a 
syntax checker automatically hunts for 
errors and flags them one at a lime. 
When you press Return, the system 
automatically returns you to the editor, 
near the line that contains the error. Vou 
correct the error and press the Consult 
key to repeat the process for the next 
error. 

The constant need to repeat key words 
and to put commas and semicolons in 
the right places was mildly annoying. We 
wish Paperback Software had imple- 
mented short key combinations lo repre- 
sent the most frequently used keywords, 
such as Rule. If Then. And. Or. Ask. and 
Choices. 

All of VP Expert's operations are fast 
— with one exception. The time it takes 
to switch from editing to consulting, 
which depends on the si/e of the 
knowledge base, can be quite long. We 
found that with a 100-rule knowledge 
base, the switch took about 30 seconds. 
This delay occurred every time we 
wanted to make a change in the knowl- 
edge base. 

Although preparing a table may not 
be very useful from the induction point 




THE SPN*" 

'you. 




' Sf/g*^"^"'" m DIGITAL RESEARCH- 



ACTiore-) 

DISPLAV "The purpose of this expert systeM is to determine IT the-4 
driuer is responsible For the accident. 4 
Press any key to begin the consultation. "^'4 
M 

ntt) Responsibility* 

DISPLfly "The driuer Is {ttRespanElblUty> for the accident.'": 4 



RULE 1-4 
IF 



Judgement = Good (tti^ 
Apprcp_Speed = Ves (H)< 
Proper_ManeuuBr = Ves4 

Responsibility = Not.Responsible: 4 



In sert O n Doc um ent Of f 

lISIS ZJSJjH 3 ifi.va» ■l .H'.j.Hil 5 «lj.llJJ I 



Boldfac e Off U nd erline O ff 
I 7j3£_ H inW 9 'WWBffH l BlHfflM 



A graphical tree shows the reasoning path Itopl. In the command file IbotlomI, the 
Actions block lists the order of operation ("Display" text to screen, "Find" one of the 
goal variables); the Rule block contains the rules themselves. 



of view, it is an elTicient way to write 
correctly formatted rules that take into 
account all the possible conditions that 
can influence the final outcome. 

One feature we especially like is the 
program's graphical tracing capability. It 
displa>s a tree representing the reasoning 
paths it is using, and it lets you magnify 
selected areas of the tree for more 
detailed examination. 

Tabular data entry, external interfac- 
ing, and graphical tracing are major 
pluses; however. VP Expert has a few 
minor minuses concerning induction and 
the complexity of certain interface pro- 
grams. We rate the program's ease of use 
very good. 

ERROR HANDLING: 

VP Expert's position is that developers 
shouldn't get stuck in any part of the 
menu system. The implementation of 
this error-handling philosophy generalh 
works well. For instance, in any menu the 
Quit command restores the previous 
menu. However, when a consultation is 
in progress, you must enter a slash (/) to 
retrieve the menu and choose an opera- 
tion. When you want to leave edit mode, 
you have to press .Alt-F6 (the file-save 
function) — a requirement that does not 
appear in the menu. 

If you press the w rong key or enter an 
improper command, you may get a 
message such as "Pathname doesn't exist 
— Hit Esc" or no response at all. 

However, these arc minor flaws. Once 
you learn your way around, the menu 
system does protect you against mistakes. 
We give VP Expert's error handling a 
score of good. 

SUPPORT: 

The VP Expert disk is warranted for 90 



days, during which period the manufac- 
turer will replace defective disks at no 
charge. After 90 davs, the replacement 

fee is $5. 

Telephone support is provided, but at 
a cost. .Any amount up to five minutes 
costs $5. and each additional minute 
costs $ I , 

We had a problem with a small 
knowledge base that we wrote according 
to the instructions in the manual. After 
some discussion, the company's support 
stalTsaid they couldn't solve it over the 
telephone. We mailed them a printout of 
the knowledge base, and they telephoned 
us promptly with the answer to our 
problem. 

The program is copy-protected, al- 
though a non-copy-protected version is 
available for an extra $ 1 0. 

Wc rate support satisfactory. 

VALUE: 

Despite its minor flaws, VP Expert is a 
splendid product for any nonprogram- 
mer who wants to develop a small to 
medium-size expert system. It combines 
the rule writing, editing, and induction 
capabilities of much more expensive 
programs with the capability to interface 
w ith a w ide range of external programs. 

Although Personal Consultant Easy 
($495) has a better user interface and 
handles uncertain situations better than 
VP Expert does, and although 1st Class 
(also $49.'>) is better at induction, VP 
Expert's $99 price makes it an excellent 
value, 

Paul Siegel's book. Expert Systems: A 
Nonprogrammer's Guide 10 Development 
and Applications, was published in De- 
cember 1 986 by Tab Books. He also leads 
seminars on developing expert systems. 



AWorkof Art 
WithouttheWork 

GEM Desktop Publisher: 




Throw Away Your Scissors, Paste, White-Out, and frustrations! 

Today, GEM Desktop Publisher offers you the ability to combine text 
and graphics in your documents, giving you more control over 
your designs, deadlines, and costs. With GEM Desktop^ 
Publisher, you can create higji-quality 
documents quickly and easily, at ^^^-^ 
an affordable price. ^-^^''^ToYA^^^ ^ 





^^^^ 





GEM Desktop 

Publisher 

Features 



^^^^^^ 



WYSIWYG 
Total flexibility 
in inserting, 
deleting, 
rearranging and 
merging text and 
graphics 

Automatic reformatting 
documents 

Automatic text flow around 
graphics rectangles 
Style sheets 
Automatic scaling of grapfiics 
Multiple fonts in multiple sizes, many colors 
and many styles 

Import text and commands from your fovorite 
word processor 

Page numbers, headers and footers 
Compatible with other GEM applications 
Compatible with many output devices 



Tiy Your Creativity, Not Your Patience 



GEM Desktop Publisher is easy to leam and easy to use. Its icons, 
drop-down menus, and mouse interface eliminate the need fcx' 
you to memorize complicated commands. You simply point and 
click to become productive immediately! Since the turnaround 
time from concept to finished output is totally under your 
control, you can aeate professional-quality brochures, 
newsletters, fliers, sales reports, marketing btiefe, books, 
manuals, forms, and other publications within time firames 
that meet your needs. It's like having a small print shop 
on your desk. 

Price/Performance Benchmark 

GEM Desktop Publisher is big on performance, yet 
small on price. At $395, it sets a new 
price/performance benchmark for the software 
industty. You get a bt for your money-features 
from WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), 
to stjie sheets, help you aeate hi^-qiiality 
documents. And none of your existing software 
is obsolete with GEM Desktop Publisher. You 
can use word processing files and keyboard 
commands from popular word processors, 
such as Word Perfect® , MultiMate™, 
WordStar™, GEM Write™, and IBM® 
DisplayWrite™, as well as text in DCA and 
ASCn file formats. You can irKorporate 
data aeated using other GEM 
applkations, such as GEM Paint™, GEM 
Draw Plus™, GEM Graph™ and GEM 
WordChart™. GEM Desktop Publisher is 
completely useable with die hardware 
you have today and the hardware 
you plan to purchase tomonow, 
including the IBM PC series, 100% 
compa^te, the IBM Personal 
System/2™ &mily of computers, 
and any Intd® -based 
mfcrocompuier where GEM 
^tem Software is installed. A 
wide range of dot matrix, laser 
printers, and other devices are 
supported for output. 



Aes='T,^^ W^^an* Traav'^- 




Ask your dealer 

for GEM Desktop Publisher, 
to create documents that you can be 
proud of. easily, quickly, and at an affordable price. 
For more written information, contact Digiinl 
Research Inc. at 1-800-443-4200. 




m DIGITAL RESEARCH* 



CEM. GEM Deskiop. GEM Deskiop PubistKr. GEM Draw Plus. GEM WoidOian. GEM Graph and GEM Write are Dademaite and Digital Reseaidi and the Dotal Reseaicli \ogp aie legisteied nademaite of Digital Reseaich, Inc. IBM is a registeied 
trademarit and Personal System/2 is a tntdemark of Intemational Bitsiness Machines Cocp. Other produa names are re^stered tiademaito, tiadenames, or tradenames of (heir respectne owners. 



THE FORTUNATE 30Q 



WHAT DO THESE 
COMPUTER DEAURS KNOW 
THAT YOU OONT? 



1. 


ANCHORAGE. AK 


39. 


SAN FRANCISCO. CA 
Micro Financial 


77. 


WILMINGTON. DE 


115. 


HCS Computer Center, Manhfield 


2. 


BIRMINGHAM, AL 

Micro National, Inc. 


40. 




78. 


FT LAUDF.RDALE-HOLLYWOOD. FL 


116. 


Computer Haus, Wilmington 


3. 


HUNTSVILLE, AL 

Madison Books and Computer 


41. 




79. 


JACKSONVILLE. FL 


117. 




4. 


PHOENIX. AZ 

Computer Solutions. Tempe 


42. 




80. 


MELBOURNE-TITUSVILLE. FL 


118. 




S. 




43. 




81. 


MIAMI. FL 


119. 




6. 




44. 




82. 


ORLANDO. FL 


120. 




7. 


TUCSON. AZ 


45. 


SAN ]C)St.CA 

Computers & Accessorys 


83. 


SARASOTA. FL 


121. 




8. 


ANAHEIM-SANTA ANA. CA 


46. 




84. 


TAMPA-ST. PETERSBURG. FL 

Computer & Software Connection 


122. 




9. 




47. 




85. 




123. 




10. 




48. 




86. 


W. PALM BEACH-BOCA RATON. FL 
Micro Cellular Communications 


124. 




11. 


BAKERSFIELD. CA 


49. 




87. 


ATl-ANTA, GA 

ACM Computer Mart, Inc. 


125. 


LAWRENCE-HAVERHILL. MA 


12. 


FRESNO. CA 
Boots Camera Corporation 


50. 




88. 


Universal Data, Inc 


126. 


LOWELL. MA 


13. 


I.05 ANGELES-I.ONG BEACH. CA 

Century Software Systenu 


51. 


SANTA BARBARA-SANTA MARIA. CA 


89. 




127. 


SALEM-GLOUCESTER. MA 

Computer Bam 


14. 


Kim^ Business Machine Co., Inc. 


52. 


SANTA CRUZ. CA 


90. 


AUGUSTA. GA 


128. 


SPRINGFIELD. MA 


IS. 


Microage Computer Store 


53. 


SANTA ROSA PETALUMA. CA 


91. 


HONOLULU. HI 


WORCESTER. MA 

129. Applied Progressive Electronia, Northboro 


16. 


Computer Palace, Glendale 


54. 


STOCKTON. CA 


92. 


DES MOINES. lA 


130. 




17. 


H.W. Electronics, Northrii^e 


55. 


VALLEJO-FAIRFIELD-NAPA. CA 

Micro Resources 


93. 


AURORA-ELGIN. IL 


131. 


BALTIMORE, MD 

Computerpro, Kensington 


18. 




56. 


BOULDER-LONCMONT. CO 


94. 


CHAMPAIGN URBANA RANTOUL. IL 


132. 


Computers To Go, Randallstown 


19. 




57. 


COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 


95. 


CHICAGO. IL 

Business Computer Solutioiu 


133. 




20. 




58. 


DENVER. CO 
RC. Computer Broken, Inc., Thornton 


96. 


Microage of Schaumburg 


134. 


PORTLAND. ME 


21. 




59. 




97. 




135. 


ANN ARBOR. Ml 


22. 




60. 




98. 




DETROIT. Ml 

136. InacompofSterling Heights, Sterling Heights 


23. 




61. 




99. 




137. 




24. 


MODESTO. CA 


62. 


BRIDGEPORT MILFORD. CT 


100. 




138. 




25. 


OAKLAND. CA 

ECX Computer Company, Walnut Creek 


63. 


DANBURY. CT 

Connecting Point, Georgetown 


101. 




139. 




26. 




64. 




102. 




140. 




27. 




65. 


HARTFORD. CT 

Digital Dimensions, Vernon 


103. 


D.AVENPORT ROCK ISLAND, IL 


141. 


FLINT. Ml 


28. 




66. 




104. 


LAKE COUNTY, IL 


142. 


GRAND RAPIDS, Ml 


29. 




67. 


NEW HAVEN-WEST HAVEN. CT 


105. 


SPRINGFIELD. IL 

Dauphin Co. 


143. 


KALAMAZOO, Ml 


30. 


OXNARDVENTURA. CA 
Computer Village, Inc. 


68. 


NEW LONDON-NORWICH. CT 


106. 


GARY-HAMMOND, IN 


144. 


LANSING-E. LANSING. Ml 


31. 


RIVERSIDE-SAN BERNARDINO. CA 


69. 


NORWALK. CT 


107. 


SOUTH BEND, IN 

Omni Micro Busineai Center 


145. 


SAGINAW-BAY CITY-MIDLAND. Ml 


32. 




70. 


STAMFORD. CT 


108. 


KANSAS CITY. KS 


146. 


MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL. MN 


33. 


SACRAMENTO. CA 

Compuworld 


71. 


WASHINGTON DC 


109. 


LEXINGTON-FAYETTE. KY 


147. 




34. 


D&G Computen 


72. 




110. 


LOUISVILLE. KY 


148. 




35. 




73. 




111. 


NEW ORLEANS. LA 

Value Business Center, Metairie 


149. 




36. 


SAN DIEGO. CA 

Byte Shop 


74. 




112. 




150. 


KANSAS CITY. MO 


37. 




75. 




113. 


BOSTON. MA 
Blue Hill Business Systems, Canton 


151. 


ST. LOUIS, MO 


38. 




76. 




114. 


Coramunicatel, Inc., Canton 


152. 





01987 Hyundti Electroaks America 



Cr.r 



153. 


OMAHA. NB 

Microware, Inc 


190. 




227. 




264. 


VANCOUVER. WA 


154. 


ClIARLO ITt-GAS TONIA, NC 

TIk Computerware Store, Jackonville 


191. 




228. 




265. 


MADISON. Wl 


155. 




192. 




229. 


SCRANTON WTLKES BARRE. PA 


266. 


MILWAUKEE, Wl 


156. 


GRF.F.NSBORO WINSTON. NC 

Data Way, Inc., Carrboro 


193. 




230. 


YORK. PA 


267. 




157. 




194. 




231. 


PROVIDENCE. RI 

Software Center R.I., Warwick 


268. 


OTHER KEY MARKETS 

Olen&ky Bros.^ Mobile, AL 


158. 


RALEIGH-DURHAM, NC 


195. 




232. 




269. 


The Computer Tutors, Red Bluff, CA 


159. 


MANCHESTER. NH 


196. 




233. 


COLU.MBIA. SC 


270. 


Data Systems West, Sherman Oaks, CA 


160. 


NASHUA. NH 

White Mountain Computer 


197. 


POUGHKEEPSIE. NY 

Software City of Wappingers Falls 


234. 


GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG. SC 

CMS-Microfix, Anderson 


271. 


Alpine Computer Center, Rockford, IL 


161. 


PORl^MOUTH-DOVER-ROCHESTER, NH 


198. 




235. 




272. 


Business Computer Center, Hutchinson, KS 


162. 


.ATLANTIC CITY. N| 


199. 


ROCIIESTEK. NY 

Cameron Computen 


236. 


CH.ATTANCXJGA.TN 


273. 


Bluechip Computers, Alexandria, LA 


163. 


BERGEN-PASSAIC. NJ 

PC Warehouse 


200. 


Leon's Computer Mart 


237. 


KNOXVILLE, TN 

Eastern Computer, Inc. 


274. 


Bluechip Computers, Baton Rouge, LA 


164. 


JERSEY CITY. NJ 


201. 


SYRACUSE. NY 


238. 


MEMPHLS. TN 
The Software Store 


275. 


Futronics, Inc, Sparks, NV 


165. 


MIDDLESEX-SOMERSET. NJ 


202. 


UTICA-ROME. NY 


239. 


NASHVILLI;. I N 


276. 


Software City, Spring Valley, NY 


166. 




203. 


AKRON. OH 


240. 


AUSTIN. TX 


277. 


Data Base Systems, Lima, Off 


167. 


MON.MOUTH-OCEAN. NJ 


204. 


CINCINNATL OH 


241. 


CORPUS CHRISTI. TX 


278. 


Bizcomp, Lorain, OH 


168. 


NEWARK. NJ 


205. 


CLEVELAND. OH 


242. 


DAI 1 AS. T\ 

Computer Systems Plus 


279. 


Memory Systems, Broken Arrow, OK 


169. 




206. 




243. 


Leader Systems/Atara, Inc. 


280. 


C.H. Love Computer, Abilene, TX 


170. 




207. 


COLUMBUS. OH 

CBM Automated Systems, Inc. 


244. 




281. 


Agriplex Computer, Lubbock, TX 


171. 




208. 


SPRINGFIELD. OH 


245. 


EL PASO, TX 


282. 


Unibase Systems, Inc, Park City, UT 


172. 


TRENTON. NJ 


209. 


TOLEDO. OH 


246. 


FT WORTH-ARLINGTON. TX 


283. 


Nestech Corp., Burlington, VT 


173. 


ALBUQUERQUE. NM 


210. 


TULSA. OK 

Computer Mart 


247. 


linuSTON.T.X 

Seabrook Micro Co. 


284. 




174. 


LAS VEGAS. NV 


211. 


EUGENE-SPRINGFIELD. OR 


248. 


Software City 


285. 




175. 


ALBANY-SCHENECTADY-TROY. NY 


212. 


PORTLAND. OR 


249. 




286. 




176. 




213. 




250. 


SAN ANTONIO. TX 

The Pervjnal Computer Store 


287. 




177. 


BINGHAMTON. NY 


214. 




251. 


PROVO-ORE.M. IIT 


288. 




178. 


HUFFALO. NY 


215. 


SALE.M.OR 


252. 


SALT LAKE CITY-OCDEN. UT 
Business Computer Systems 


289. 




179. 




216. 


ALLENTOWN-BETHI.EHEM. PA 


253. 


NORI OLK VIRGINIA BEACH. VA 


290. 




180. 


N.ASSAU-SUFFOLK. NY 


217. 


ERIE. PA 


254. 


RICHMOND-PFTERSBURC;. \ A 

Software Plus 


291. 




181. 




218. 


HARRISBURG-LEBANON-CARLISLE. PA 


255. 


BRE.MERTON. WA 


292. 




182. 




219. 


LANCASTER. PA 


256. 


RiCHLAND-KENNEWlCK-PASCO. WA 


293. 




183. 




220. 


PHILADELPHLA. PA 

Pennsylvania Computer Center 


257. 


SEATTLE. WA 


294. 




184. 




221. 




258. 




295. 




185. 


NEW YORK. NY 

5th Avenue Computer 


222. 




259. 




296. 




186. 




223. 




260. 




297. 




187. 




224. 




261. 




298. 




188. 




225. 




262. 


SPOKANE. WA 

Microspace, Inc 


299. 




189. 




226. 


PITTSBURGH. PA 


263. 


TACOMA. WA 


300. 





Hyundai's new line of PC-comf>atibIes needs dealers now. 

You're looking at the first members ol a very exclusive club. The Fortunate 300. It's the select group of dealers who've 
staked their claim to prime sales territories, reserved for the fortunate few who'll carry the new Hyundai* line of PC-com- 
p>atible microcomputers. But time is short, because the dealers in the know are snapping up the remaining territories. 

And no wonder. Hyundai plans to give its dealers a handsome reward. Profit, prestige, and the support of a 
$14 billion company with a 40-year tradition of success. We won't compete with our dealers for sales, instead 
we'll work together with you as a team. 

We won't force product on vou. You order what you need, when you want it, and pay when it arrives. As you 
can see, we'll select only a few dealers per area. We'll provide some of the best margins in the business. We'll 
support you with everything fi-om healthy co-op credits to stafi training. And we'll drive sales through aggres- 
sive, ongoing advertising. 

Sign up now and join the fortunate few. Before your competition does. Because the last thing you want 
is to give your competition a running start on an opportunity like this. 



For dealer information, call toll-free i (800) 544-7808. 

4401 Great America Parkway, Sanu Clara, CA 950S4 




74 

SEPHMBER 21, 19*7 



Sc3ft:ware Reviews 



INFO 
WORLD 



XYZ Model 

Financial Model Builder Suffers 
From Serious Limitations, Bugs 



By John Walkenbach Contributing Editor 



XYZ Model is a 1-2-3 aftermarket 
product intended to simplify financial 
model building and to allow users to 
work with meaningful variable names 
and clearly defined relationships between 
the variables. 

A financial model (or any spread- 
sheet-based model) consists of statements 
that describe relationships among vari- 
ables. XYZ Model analyzes a spread- 
sheet file and translates the row names, 
column names, and formulas into a 
concise set of English-language state- 
ments, which you can then manipulate 
instead of dealing with the spreadsheet 
perse. 

In reviewing this product, however, 
we were frustrated by its limitations, 
annoyed by its bugs, and astounded at 
how easily erroneous conclusions could 
be reached because of it. XYZ Model has 
some serious problems. 



Although we like 
the concept of 
XYZ Model, its 
performance is far 
below our 
standards. 



FEATURES: 

XYZ Model reads 1-2-3 or Symphony 
worksheets directly. It translates the row 
and column titles into variable names, 
and it also converts your worksheet 
formulas into descriptive statements of 
their interrelationships — features 
similar to those performed by Clarity 
Software's Cellmate. (See review, 
October 27. 1986.) 

But XYZ Model attempts to take this 
idea much further. Once the formulas are 
derived, you can manipulate and work 
with the variable names and relation- 
ships directly. You can then save both 



the model and the worksheet into 
separate files. Retrieving your updated 
worksheet in 1-2-3 or Symphony will 
reveal modified formulas that are based 
on the alterations you made while you 
were in XYZ Model. 

Models are stored in ASCII files 
separate from the worksheet, letting you 
define a single model for several identi- 
cally formatted spreadsheets — for ex- 
ample, annual budget models for several 
departments within a company. 

The advanced version of the product 
adds goal seeking, sensitivity analysis, 
and simultaneous equation solving. 

XYZ Model doesn't support expand- 
ed memory. 

PERFORMANCE: 

We were initially impressed with this 
program's ability to translate formulas — 
even extremely complex formulas — 
into its fairly complete modeling 
language. 

But then we tried loading in several 
relatively complex spreadsheet models. 
None translated successfully. We 
devoted the remainder of our efforts to 
trying to get just one of our models 
working correctly. We eventually suc- 
ceeded, but concluded that the end result 
was not worth the effort. Simple models 
generally work just fine — but with a 
simple model you don't need a product 
such as this. 

Our problems of getting a complex 
model into the program, and in 
subsequent operations, often revolved 
around XYZ Model's rather exacting 
requirements. For example, the first row 
of the defined data range must contain a 
formula: our formula began in the 
second row. so XYZ Model failed to 
translate it properly. XYZ Model expects 
function arguments to be in the form of a 
range, and it balks at legal worksheet 
formulas such as @MAX(A1.A3.A5). 
The program ignores column width 
settings, making some worksheets almost 
unrecognizable; and it also drops the 
commas from comma-formatted 
numbers, making large numbers fairiy 
difficult to read. 

We found a few bugs. The modeling 
language keyword "but" didn't work 



INFO 



WORLD 



WEEKty 



REPORT CARD 



SOFTWARE 

XYZ MODEL 



1.7 



8 s „ a M 

O « V >, <u 

5 5 ro Q 0) X 

0, CO O > tu 



Performance 


0- 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


Documentation 


□ 




□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


Ease of Learning 


□ 


□ 




□ 


□ 


□ 


Ease of Use 


□ 




□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


Error Handling 


□ 


a- 


□ 


□ 


□ 


o 


Support 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 




Value 


0- 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 



SUMMARY 



XYZ Model works directly with 1-2-3 
and Symphony files, translating work- 
sheets into a modeling language. Pros: 
Shows variable relationships in English; 
can modify variable relationships and 
see the results immediately; lop-notch 
support; money-back guarantee. Conx: 
Unreliable; must restructure work- 
sheets to conform; inconvenient to use; 
documentation is sketchy; error mes- 
sages are unexplained. 



PRODUCT DETAILS 



List price, $145 ($395 for the Advanced 
Version with a second XYZ product). 
Version tested (Advanced Version 1.2) 
available for IBM PCs, XTs, ATs, and 
compatibles running PC-/MS-rX)S 2.0 
or later. Requires worksheets in 1-2-3 
or Symphony format. Intex Solutions 
Inc., 568 Washington St., Wellesley, 
MA02I8I;(6I7)239-1I68. ' 



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Rou equations (F3=Cilc ESC=Maln Menu) 



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XYZ Model converts spreadsheets into a model that describes the relationships in the 
spreadsheet ItopI, so you can work with the logic behind the numbers instead of the 
numbers themselves. Changes you make can be reflected in the original worksheet. 
When running a goal-seeking operation IbottomI, XYZ Model resembles I -2-3. 



correctly in our tests, and we confirmed 
the bug with technical support. 

Although you can change the work- 
sheet formulas via XYZ Model's model- 
ing language, you cannot directly change 
any of your spreadsheet values. Instead, 
you have to exit XYZ Model and then 
return to 1-2-3 or Symphony when you 
want to make these changes. 

The goal-seeking process (available in 
the advanced version) is extremely slow. 
Once XYZ Model arrives at the input 
value, you cannot get the original value 
back, short of reloading the worksheet — 
a serious shortcoming if your model is 
large. XYZ Model is also overly picky 
about which cells can be used as input for 
goal seeking. 

Although we like the concept of XYZ 
Model, its fwrformance is far below our 
standards. We would not recommend 
this program in its current form for 
serious business purposes. Wc rate per- 
formance unacceptable. 

DOCUMENTATION: 

XYZ Model's short manual, which has a 
table of contents but no index, is fairiy 
well-organized and complete, but the 
advanced features are merely skimmed 
over. Goal-seeking and sensitivity analy- 
sis each get about a half a page of text, 
with no examples offered. The discussion 
of simultaneous equations is even worse. 
The on-line help is pretty much a token 
feature that is not all that useful and 
sometimes even incorrect. 

The sparse treatment of advanced 
features and Ihc inadequate on-line help 
result in a poor score for documentation. 

EASE OF LEARNING: 

A simple on-disk tutorial works you 



through an example of a small, trivial 
model. After that, you're on your own. 
We were familiar with the general 
concepts of this type of program and 
learned the basics quickly. A spreadsheet 
novice, however, might have some diffi- 
culty. 

A major stumbling block in learning 
this program is getting your worksheet 
into the proper format for XYZ Model to 
work with it. This will usually require 
several trips back and forth between 
XYZ Model and Lotus 1-2-3 (or Sym- 
phony) — a routine that soon gets very 
tiring. 

Fxperienced spreadsheet users (the 
product's intended audience) will not 
find XYZ Model difficult to learn; 
therefore, we rate it satisfactory in ease of 
learning. 

EASE OF USE: 

Compared to recent 1-2-3 add-in prod- 
ucts. X\ Z Model seems archaic and 
demanding. For example, you can't 
specify a default directory for your 
worksheet files — it's either a disk drive 
designator or the directory from which 
you run the program. 

Also, the program handles only rec- 
tangular layouts, since it gets variable 
names only from a single row and a single 
column. .\nd if your column headings 
occupy several lines or your row titles use 
multiple columns, you must modify this 
before feeding the spreadsheet to XYZ 
Model. 

You can't manipulate the worksheet 
directly from within XYZ McxJcl. and 
you can't change the titles (which arc 
used for variable names) or modify any 
of the numeric values. You can. of 
course, change the formulas by means of 



Ci: 



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✓ 



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1 



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-II 

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Rna%AR)rtable 
Designed 'BBieakTTie Mold, 
Instead Of ¥)ur Back. 



Portable computers fit a predictable pattem.The 
more powerful they are, the less portable they are. 

With one miagnificently small exception. The 
T3100/20. 

It's the best shape power has ever been in. 
A smaller, slimmer profile thafs tailored to you, 
instead of the other way around. 

Yet inside this sleek 15-pound package are 
640KB of RAM and a built-in 20MB hard disk. All 
driven by an 80286 microprocessor, the same CPU 
that sparks the IBM' PC AT* 

Its gas plasma screen is so bright, it looks like 
a full-size CRT display Which, by the way you can 
easily plug into the T3100/20's standard RGB 
color port 

MS-DOS* 3.2 is standard. So are parallel, serial 
and 5i4''extemal drive ports. And a soft carrying case. 

With every T3100/20, well include fi'ee copies 
of Lotus' Sjw/j/wTW** and Lotus Metml' two of the 
world's most popular programs, for the world's 



most popular portable computer. 

You can also add a 1200 bps Hayes-compatible 
modem, a five-slot IBM-compatible expansion 
chassis, 2 megabytes of extended memory, and a 
numeric keypad. 

The T3100/20 is backed by Exceptional Caref* 
our promise that if we have to fix your computer, 
well fix you up with another one while you wait. 

All of which leads one to a small dilemma. 
How to regard a machine that changes forever the 
way the world thinks about portable performance. 

Y)u could think of it as a desktop on a crash 
diet Or the muscle of an AT without the bulk. Or 
simply as PC World put it: "A small miracle!' 

Call l-80a457-7777 to find out more about 
the full Une of T)shiba PCs. And give your cus- 
tomers all the advantages of power 

With none of the burdens. 

IBM & PC AT are registered trademarks of International Business Machines (xirpcxation. MS-DOS is 
a negistened trademark of Microscrft Corp. Lotus. Symphony and Metro are registered trademarlts of 
Lotus Devebpment Cap. Hayes is a registered trademark of Hayes Corp. 'Lmiited time ofiet '•No^aist 
cnnJlment required. 



In Touch with Tomorrow^ 

TOSHIBA 

Tishiba AmetKa. Inc.. Information Svstetrus DiTOKin 



Olher comp 
trying to get 



Six years ago, when we 
introduced the original dBASE^ it 
belonged in a category all by itself. 

Since then, literally hun- 
dreds of database programs have 
tried to outdo us. But dBASE 
still is the category 

And for a number of good 
reasons. 

Let's start with power So 
fer, nobody has even come close to 
the versatility of the dBASE 
programming language. Or found 
a way to let non-programmers 
create more sophisticated 
programs. 

Of course, while others were 
trying to catch up to our first 
generation product, we were busy 
on our second. And every year 
for the last six years, weVe pushed 
our lead even farther ahead. 

But power is only one reason 
to buy dBASE III PLUS: There 
are a lot of other reasons that are 
just plain common sense. 



Tb begin with, we have over 
1.5 million users. That clearly 
makes us the industry standard. 
When you develop an application 
with dBASE III PLUS, a lot of 
people in your company will be 
able to use it. 

At last count, over 80 books, 
magazines and technical journals 
have been written exclusively 
about dBASE products. All design- 
ed to help you take maximum 
advantage of their capability 

The Ashton-Tkte^ Developer's 
Registry is another big reason. 
It contains over a thousand pages 
of information on where to get 
applications for every area from 
hog farming to yacht racing. 
So there's no need to create a 
program from scratch. Unless 
you want to. 

Then there's our LAN Pack, 
v^ch gives you a simple, cost- 
effective way to share the power 
of dBASE III PLUS with users 



anies are still 
to first basa 



on all major local area networks. 

We also offer a complete raiige 
of support programs for everyone. 
Prom 90-day free phone support 
for new users to remote on-line 
diagnostics for advanced users. 
Along with the most thorough, clear- 
cut documentation in the industry 
And the best customer training. 



So if you're looking at data- 
base programs, there are really 
only two choices. You can buy 
a program that's still trying to catch 
up with dBASE HI PLUS. Or one 
that is dBASE 111 PLUS. 

For more information or the 
name of the dealer nearest you, 
call (800) 437-4329, Ext. 283! 



•In Cotorado.call (3tti)799 J900, Exiemion 2Si.TYademarlBiimiier: dBASE. dBASE III PU S. 
AsMoi'hte/Asliton'meCorporaiKiii. O l»«7 Ashionliuo tVirporation. .All righls resprviil. 



Multi-^expansionpackfarlocalc 




a4ashton-tate 



dBASE m Plus 

the data management standard 




raterial 



78 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



Sof t:ware Reviews 



INFO 
WORLD 



editing the English language 
equations that make up the 
model. 

When you're in XYZ Model, 
you get a view ofyour worksheet 
but cannot see the actual formu- 
las. Although the modeling lan- 
guage does translate the for- 
mulas for you. we would still 
like to be given the option to 
view the original spreadsheet 
formulas. 

On the positive side, a func- 
tion key brings up a menu of all 



variable names, which can be 
useful. 

Our score of poor for ease of 
use stems from the program's 
generally out-of-date user inter- 
face and from its lack of direct 
connectivity to the spreadsheet 
program. 

ERROR HANDLING: 

There are quite a few error 
messages that you might en- 
counter while running XYZ 
Model. Most are fairly self- 



explanatory, and you're usually 
given the chance to correct 
them. There are four serious 
error conditions that require 
exiting the program: without 
really trying, we happened to 
encounter two of these fatal 
errors within the first hour of 
testing the program. The errors 
are not explained in the XYZ 
manual; instead, you arc asked 
to report these problems to 
Intex Solutions (on your own 
dime). 



Pressing Shift-FlO immedi- 
ately halts the program and 
returns you to DOS — no 
confirmation is required. We 
haven't seen such a drastic exit 
procedure from a program in 
some time. 

Error handling does not 
come up to our standards. We 
rate the product poor in this 
category. 

SUPPORT: 

Support is one area where this 



2 new monitors 
for the System/2] 

2 good to be true. 



Some people shy away from tech- 
nological chai^. But at Amdek*, we look 
upon change as an opportunity. 

And now that there's a new generation 
of PC's, \vie have the opportunity to intro- 
duce you to 2 new monitors from Amdek- 
the 732 color and 432 monochrome. 

The meticulous details. 

From the beautifijlly styled cabinet to 
the flicker-free screen, these new monitors 
are unmistakably Amdek. 

Text so sharp, you'll think your news- 
paper is bluny by comparisoa Graphics so 
colorfiil, you'll have a tough time tryii^ to 
think of a hue you can't incorporate. 

And because the ^\mdek 732 and 432 
are compatible with IBiM ^s new Penjonal 
System/2" Video Graphics Array (VGA) 
and Multicolor Graphics Array (MCGA), 
the image of all j-our programs will look 
better than you've ever im^ined. 



The 732 allows you to choose from a 
palette of ewer 256,(XX) colors-up to 256 
colore at once. And the text switch delivers 
clear single color text for word prcxxssing. 

The blade and white of iL 

For the ultimate in monochrome, the 
432 features a large 14-inch flat surface 
screen that projects visually larger black type 
agaiast a high-contrast wfdte phosphor 
background. The impression is more like ink 
on paper. 

Combine these features with our non- 
glare screen and tilt/swivel stand, and yvull 
see that Amdek has thought of everythiiig. 

Then compare our monitor price 
against other monitors compatible with the 
System/2. 

We think you'll enjoy tliat benefit, 2. 

.»i>4MDEK 



Clearly the finest in monitors. 

1901 ZankerRoad,SanJose,CA95112 Phone; 800/PC-AMDEK (800/722-6335) FAX; 408/436-8187 





aaiif*"' C\ 



tB.M n a ngisterad tratkmaik or Intmutional Busmess Machines CxNp. Penoful Sy 



product really gets a chance to 
shine. 

XYZ Model is not copy- 
protected, and telephone sup- 
port is available, although you 
do have to pay the line charges. 

We called to inquire about 
some of the limitations we've 
mentioned. We were immedi- 
ately connected to a knowledge- 
able and helpful technician who 
admitted that we had indeed 
uncovered a few bugs in the 
program. He volunteered some 
work-arounds to help us with 
the problems. 

Intex Solutions recently ship- 
ped Version 1 .2 (the version we 
tested) at no cost to all users of 
previous versions. The company 
also provides a quarterly news- 
letter to all XYZ Model users 
who are registered, and the 
product has a 30-day money- 
back guarantee. 

Wc feel that the support for 
this product is much better than 
average in its market, and we 
were particularly impressed 
with the telephone support pro- 



Compared to 
recent 1 -2-3 
odd-in 
products, 
XYZ Model 

seems 
archaic and 
demanding. 



vided. Its rating of excellent is 
well-deserved. 

VALUE: 

Intex Solutions makes a whole 
line of 1-2-3 add-on products. 
We awarded high marks to 3D- 
Graphics in our August 3 review 
(rating it 8.4 overall), and from 
what we've seen of XYZ Con- 
solidate and XYZ Query, they 
do their jobs well. Don't confuse 
them with Version 1.2 of XYZ 
Model, which doesn't measure 
up to its siblings. 

If you're serious about finan- 
cial modeling and like the idea 
of using English language vari- 
able names, then consider a 
dedicated modeling product 
such as Javelin (see review. 
March 23), which at $199 costs 
only a few dollars more than 
XYZ Model at $145. (XYZ 
Model, Advanced Version costs 
$395 but includes a free copy of 
your choice of XYZ Consoli- 
date. XYZ Spread, or XYZ 
Query.) 

Because of the limitations, 
the difficulty of using it. and the 
unreliability of the results, wc 
cannot recommend the current 
version of XYZ Model. We rate 
value unacceptable. 

John Wolkenbach is a consumer 
research manager for a leading 
savings and loan association in 
Southern California. 



INFO 



79 



^^QPII ^ SfPTUMnSI, 1987 

Hardware Reviews 



The Accelerator SE, 
like its competitors, 
boosts a stock SE's 
performance to a 
level higher than 
that of the Mac II. 



• REVIEWS POLICY 

InfoWorld publishes each 
year in-deplh reviews of 
approximately 300 micro- 
computer products we judge 
important, interesting, and 
useful to our readers. To 
submit a product for review 
consideration, send product 
announcement, marketing 
materials, demos, or ad 
copy describing the product 
to Reviews Editor, InfoWorld, 
1060 Marsh Road, Suite C- 
200, Menio Park, CA 
94025. (Send news and new 
product announcements sep- 
arately to News Editor.) 
Please do not send hard- 
ware. Unsolicited materials 
ore not relumed. 

The editorial review 
board selects products for 
review for each cycle. If your 
product is selected, you will 
be contacted to arrange 
shipment of the product tor 
review. We request two 
copies of software: we re- 
turn hardware, but not soft- 
ware, after review. 

Because of the volume of 
submissions, we regret we 
are unable to contact ven- 
dors regarding products not 
selected for review. 



Also Included 
In This Section 

IBM PC 

Convertible.... 83 
Review 

Responses 84 



Radius Accelerator SE 

Inexpensive Board Boosts Mac SE's Performance 

But Its Documentation and Warranty Leave Much to Be Desired 



ByDonCrabb Coniribuling Editor 

The Radius Accelerator SE is an 
accelerator board that plugs into 
the 96-pin burobus expansion 
slot of the Macintosh SE. The 
basic configuration ($1,495) in- 
cludes a Motorola 68020 CPU 
(the same chip that's in the Mac 
II) running at 15.67 MHz; .■!2K 
of fast static RAM cache; and a 
16-bit I/O expansion bus (the 
Radius Magic Bus), which can 
connect to Radius" Full-Page 
Display (FPD) monitor. 

Optionally available is a 
matching 6888 1 math coproces- 
sor. There is no room for 
additional R.\M on the board, 
however. 



FEATURES: 

The Accelerator SE. like its 
competitors (General Comput- 
er's Hypercharger020. reviewed 
July 6. and the Levco Prodigy 
SE. reviewed July 27). can boost 
the performance of a stock SE to 
a level higher than that of the 
Mac II. The performance in- 
crease comes from substituting 
the faster 68020 CPU for the 
SE's slower 68000. 

In addition to running twice 
as fast, the Accelerator's chip 
has a 32-bit data path, twice that 
of the stock SE's 16-bil 68000. 
The Accelerator also comes 
with a bit of superfast RAM 
used to cache data and program 
code to further improve your 
machine's performance. 

The Accelerator works with 
existing Mac RAM. like the 
Hypercharger 020. but unlike 
the Prodigy SE, which comes 
with I megabyte of RAM. 

Since the 68020 can imitate 
the 68000 (by running slower 
and disabling its instruction 
caching), most existing Mac 
software runs on the 
Accelerator SE. For 
some of the applica- 
tions that do not follow 
the recommended pro- 
gramming standards 
published by .Apple, 
the Accelerator can be 
bypassed when the 
machine is started, 
turning the system 
back into a plain-vanil- 
la SE, 

The 6888 1 math co- 
processor chip supports 
the Standard Apple 
Numeric Environment 
(SANE) for floating- 
point arithmetic. For 
maximum perfor- 
mance, the 881 can 
also be addressed di- 
rectly by those applica- 
tions that were 
designed f o r the 
68020/68881 environ- 



ment. Unlike General Comput- 
er's Hypercharger 1)20. the 
Radius SE .Accelerator does not 
support a special version of 
SANE biased for sf)ced (at the 
expense of extremes of preci- 
sion). The Accelerator SE's 
SANE is kept in firmware, 
where it can be accessed 
quickly. 

Unlike the H\perchargcr 
020. with its special Init file, and 
the Prodigy SE. with its system 
resource, the Accelerator has no 
additional software. However, 
the Accelerator's control panel 
resource (accessed during start- 
up) allows you to turn ofl" the 
accelerator, turn off the data 
cache, or turn ofl'thc code cache 
(turning them olT slows down 
the board, sometimes useful for 
compatibility testing). 

The Accelerator board is 
about 8'/: inches by 4'/t inches 
and weighs less than half a 
pound; it draws 5 watts, which 
was no problem for our SE's 
power supply or fan. 

PERFORMANCE: 

The performance of the Acceler- 
ator depends upon how you 
have its options set. The 
maximum performance in- 
crease can be obtained by 
turning on both the code and 
data caches. 

We tested the Radius Accel- 
erator SE on a standard Macin- 
tosh SE with a 20-megabyte 
internal hard disk (the same 
system we used to test the Levco 
Prodigy SE). 

Our Accelerator board 
arrived with the 68881 installed. 
During our benchmark tests we 
disconnected the SE froin our 
Appletalk network, and we ran 




The Radius Accelerator SE increases the Mac's performance by 
substituting the foster 68020 CPU for the SE's slower 68000. 



all the tests with the Apple RAM 
cache disabled. During our soft- 
ware usage tests, we reconnected 
Appletalk. 

We ran the same benchmarks 
that we had run on the SE. the 
Mac II. the SE with a 
HvperchargerO20 installed, and 
the SE with the Prodigy SE 
installed. 

The disk drive test results 
showed no improvements for 
the Accelerator over the stock 
SE. (The Hypercharger showed 
the same results: the Levco 
Prodigy SE. by contrast, im- 
proved random-access speed by 
7 percent and sequential access 
by 5 percent.) 

In ItifoH orUrs CPU tests, the 
Accelerator SE did not produce 
as great a performance boost as 
the Hypercharger 020. Using 
the fastest Accelerator con- 
figuration (data and code caches 
on), we obtained a speed index 



INFO 



WORLD 



\A/EB<Ly 



REPORT CARD 



ADD-ON BOARD 

RADIUS ACCELERATOR SE 





B 
m 

Q. 




:tory 




o 




7.7 


Unacce 


Poor 


cn 


Good 


Very Gc 


Excellei 


Performance 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 




Documentation 


□ 


a- □ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


Ease of Use 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 


Br 


Setup 


□ 


□ 


□ 




a 


Serviceability 


n 


n 




□ 


n 


Value 


□ 


□ 


□ 


□ 





SUMMARY 



A 68020-based accelerator board for 
the Apple Macintosh SE, the Accelera- 
tor SE also has a Magicbus expansion 
bus to accommodate Radius' Full-Page 
screen. Pro.i: Easy to set up and use; 
installation not difficult for experienced 
technicians; works well; highly compat- 
ible; strong performance: lower-priced 
than competitors. Con.?. Documenta- 
tion lacks vital information: warranty 
limited. 



PRODUCT DETAILS 



List price, $995: $1..190 with 68881 
chip. Model tested includes 16-MHz 
68020, 32K cache RAM, Radius Bus 
connector. 68881 math coprocessor. 
Available for Apple Macintosh SE with 
I megabyte of RAM. Radius Inc.. 404 
E. Plumeria Drive. San Jose, CA 95 1 34: 
(404) 434-1010, 



higher than a stock SE. higher 
than a Mac II. higher than a 
Hypercharger 020 with no cache 
or with ROM cache only en- 
abled, and higher than a Levco 
Prodigy SE w ith one or the other 
of its caches oil". 

But the .Accelerator was slow- 
er than the Levco Prodigy SE 
with all caches on and signifi- 
cantly slower than the Hyper- 
charger 020 with both caches 
enabled. 

We also tested the Accelera- 
tor's compatibility using the 
same suite of software that we 
had run by the Prodigy SE 
board. An Excel 1 .04 worksheet 
of 25 columns by 100 rows of 
multiplication formulas took 1 1 
seconds to recalculate on a 
standard SE. 2. 1 seconds on a 
Mac II with I megabyte of 
RAM. and slightly more than 
one second with the Accelera- 
tor, We found similar perfor- 
mance levels using 
I rape/e and Mac Spin, 
which are compute- 
bound, floating-point- 
intensive programs. 
We also noted in- 
creased floating-point 
performance of pro- 
grams written in AB 
Soft's Mac Fortran and 
Consulair's Mac C 
languages. 

One of the most 
convenient by-prod- 
ucts of the speed in- 
crease provided by the 
Accelerator was a sim- 
ple one: scrolling speed. 
Having spent agonizing 
amounts of time scroll- 
ing through large docu- 
ments in Mac Write 4.5 
and Microsoft Word 
3.0 1 . we learned to love 
the improvement pro- 
vided by the Accelera- 



THE INTELLIGENT CHOICE 



IMS-286 

10 MEGAHERTZ 

$999 

BASE SYSTEM 




• Intel 80286 processor running at lOMHz, 
switch selectable to 6MHz 

• Phoenix BIOS 

• 512KB RAM expandable to 1MB on 
system board 

• 1.2MB diskette drive 

• Dual diskette drive/fixed disk controller 

• Enhanced, 101-key keyboard 

• Clock-calendar with battery backup 

• 200-watt power supply 

• Illustrated installation and operations manual 

MonoCraphic System. $1199 

• IMS-286 base system 

• High-resolution monochrome graphics 
adapter card 

• 12" high-resolution flat screen display 

$1799 
$2099 



With 42MB MiniScribe. 



With 70MB MiniScribe. 



$1599 



EGA Color System. 

• IMS-286 base system 

• Enhanced graphics adapter video card 

• 14" high-resolution EGA color monitor 

$2199 
$2499 



With 42MB MiniScribe. 



With 70MB MiniScribe. 



IMS-88 

10 MEGAHERTZ 

$489 

BASE SYSTEM 



• Intel 8088-1 processor running at lOMHz, 
switchable to 4.77MHz 

• 640KB RAM 

• 360KB diskette drive 

• Diskette drive controller 

• AT-style keyboard 

• 150-watt power supply 

• Illustrated installation and 
operations manual 



MonoGraphic System. $699 

• IMS-88 base system 

• High-resolution monochrome graphics 
adapter card 

• 12" high-resolution flat screen display 

$989 
$1039 



With 20MB MiniScribe. 
With 30MB MiniScribe. 



$1099 



EGA Color System. 

• IMS-88 base system 

• Enhanced graphics adapter video card 

• 14" high-resolution EGA color monitor 

$1389 
$1439 



With 20MB MiniScribe 
With 30MB MiniScribe 




360KB Diskette Drive... $99 256K Chips (150ns)... $29 

AT Multifunction Card. . .$139 256K Chips (120ns) . . .$35 

AT I/O Board... $69 PC I/O Board... $69 

1200 Baud Internal Modem. . .$89 
1200 Baud External Modem. . .$119 
Multifunction Board... $125 
Intel 80287-8 math coprocessor. . .$269 



To Order Call Toll Free: 

800-777-7757 

For Product Information 
& In Texas Call: 

512-250-8271 




1633 BabciKk 



Intelligent Buyers shop for superior products and superior value. All of our products come with a one-year warranty , 
one year of free technical phone support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. We do not charge you for UPS shipping within the 
continental United States, or for buying with your credit card. Intelligent Micro Systems is The Intelligent Choice. 

Texas residents please adU T/t'k satestai. 



Ccr 



INFO 
WORLD 



Hardware Reviews 



81 

SEPHMBER 31, 1987 



tor board. 

We successfully tested the 
following applications for 
compatibility: Appleshare 1.1. 
Tops 3/18/87, Hypemet 2.0. 
and Mac Serve 2. 1 for Appletalk 
compatibility: McMax (beta). 
Multiuser Double Helix. 
Filemaker Plus 2.0, Reflex 1.0, 
Overvue 2.0d, and Fourth Di- 
mension 1.1 databases: Mind- 
write 1.1. Write Now 1.0, Word 
3.01, and Mac Write 4.5 word 
processors; Multiplan 1.1, 
Trapeze 1.0, and Excel 1.04 
spreadsheets: Mac Paint 1.5, 
Mae Draw 1.9, Super Paint 1.0, 
Full Paint 1.0, Cricket Graph 
1 .0, Cricket Draw 1 .0. and Easy 
3D 1.0 graphics packages; 
Applelink 2.0 , Mac Kermit 1 .0, 
Mac Terminal 1.1, Versaterm 
Pro 1.1, and Red Ryder 9.4 
telecommunications products; 
and Data Desk I.I and Stat- 
works 1.0 statistical analysis 
programs. All of these programs 
and many others worked flaw- 
lessly on the Accelerator SE {as 
thcv had on the Levco Prodigy 
SE). 

The only two programs that 
wouldn't work on the Accelera- 
tor SE were programs that also 
wouldn't work on the Mac II or 
on the Levco board: Jazz lA 
and Pro 3D. This is not a 
problem in faulty hardware de- 
sign. The problem with Jazz is 
an incompatibility with System 
4.1; the Pro 3D problem stems 
from its incapability to work 
with any 68020-based machine. 

In short, we found no signifi- 
cant compatibility problems 
with the Accelerator SE: it was 
more compatible with existing 
Mac software than the Mac II is. 
Its software compatibility level 
was about the same as the 
Prodigy SB's, and pleased us 
better than the intermittent 
glitches we experienced when 
we were testing the Hyper- 
charger 020. 

Besides the improvement in 
executing programs, you will 
notice that the Accelerator ac- 
cesses and saves data to and 
from your disk faster. A 50K 
Word 3.0 file consisting of the 
text siring "The quick brown 
fox jumped over the lazy dog," 
repeated over and over, took 2 1 
seconds to save on a stock SE. 
The same file took seven 
seconds to save on a Mac II and 
1 1 seconds to save on the 
Accelerator. This is because the 
board speeds up calculations 
involved in preparing data for 
saving. 

As a performance booster to 
the Mac SE, the Accelerator SE 
does the job. While it doesn't 
offer as much of a boost as the 
Hypercharger020 in full regalia, 
it will still beat a Mac II in most 
program executions and keep 
up with it when doing heavy 
disk access work. Its lop perfor- 
mance level was only marginally 
slower than the Levco Prodigv 
SE. 

Like the Prodigy SE. the 
Accelerator proved to be a rock- 
solid board during our lest 
period, causing no system 
bombs or other problems for us. 

While you don't gel a full 
Mac II with the Accelerator — 



there are no Nubus slots or color 
display here — you do get a very 
fast SE that retains its portabil- 
ity and that proved more com- 
patible in software testing than a 
Mac II. We rate its performance 
excellent. 

DOCUMENTATION: 

In a word, poor. The Accelera- 
tor SE comes with two manuals: 
one for installation and one for 
users of the board. Both are far 
too brief and vague to be useful; 



they were definitely inferior to 
those provided by Levco. 

If you've never done a board 
installation in an SE before, 
don't try it with the information 
in this installation manual. 
There is simply too liltle infor- 
mation. 

We rate the documentation 
poor. 

EASE OF USE: 

Once you've installed your Ac- 
celerator SE, using it is as easy as 



firing up the Mac. Ease of use 
doesn't get any better than this 
for add-on boards, so we rate 
this product excellent in this 
category, 

SETUP: 

Radius requires that an Apple 
Level One certified technician 
install the Accelerator SE. Con- 
sidering the poor installation 
guide, we wish all such techni- 
cians good luck. 

We've had lots of SE installa- 



tion experience, so we installed 
the board ourselves. The process 
was fairiy easy, once we learned 
to ignore the installation guide. 
We got the whole thing done in 
about an hour. Since there is no 
software to install, you save a 
step required by the Levco and 
GCC boards. 

Despite the poor installation 
guide, installing the Radius Ac- 
celerator board was easy for an 
experienced SE installer, so we 
rate setup as good. 




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il 



1986, 1987 

PC Wbrid d r 
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Heditors 



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Hardware Reviews 



83 

SEPnMBER2l, 1987 



SERVICEABILITY: 

Radius gives you a standard "90-day 
wonder" warranty. \ ou return the board 
to an authorized Radius dealer (or 
directly to Radius) for repair during the 
warranty period. Radius does not 
provide a maintenance agreement for 
extended warranty coverage, a disadvan- 
tage compared to the Hypercarc service 
available for the Hvpercharger 020. No 
vendor telephone number is provided in 
Ihe documentation. 

Fortunately, the Accelerator SE 
appears unlikely to fail under normal 
service: a month-long test revealed no 
problems. It's a modular board that can 
be repaired or replaced quickly if it does 
break down (and the Mac can still be 
used once it's removed). 

Balancing its solid modular construc- 
tion and design, along with its good 
reliability, against its mediocre warranty, 
we rate the ser\ iceability of the Accelera- 
tor satisfactory. 

VALUE: 

The Radius Accelerator SE is an excel- 
lent performer, beating a Mac II in our 
benchmarks and comparable to the 
Lcvco Prodigy SE in its speed. The 
Accelerator costs $995 (or $ 1 .390 with a 
math chip), which is $500 cheaper than 
the Hypwrcharger 020 or the Levco 
Prodigy SE. both of which come with a 
megabv te of RAM. 

The Accelerator SE is a good design 
from an experienced vendor of Mac 
hardware add-ons. and it is less expensive 
than its competitors. We rate it a very 
good value. 

Don Crobb is Ihe director ol under- 
groduole computer science instruction at 
Ihe University ol Chicago and a contribut- 
ing editor o^lnfoWorld. 



BENCHMARK TEST 



Macintosh 
Performance 
Results 



Configurolien 



INOCACHEI 



WITH HYPERCHARGER 030 
(NO CACHE) 



Motmtoih S£ 

WITH RADIUS ACCELERATOR SE 
ICOOt AND PATA CACHES Off] 



Macmtoth SE 

WITH HYPERCHARGER 070 
IROM CACHE ONI 




1.00 



1.90 



2.78 



3.15 



3.41 



3.84 



McKinio^ SE 

WITH lEVCO PRODIGY SE 

INO SAN6;88 1 . INSTRUCTION CACHE ONI 



4.21 



Mocinloth SI 

WITH RADIUS ACCELERATOR SE 
(CODE AND DATA CACHES ON| 



MCKmloth SE 

WITH lEVCO PRODIGY SE 

ISANf/MI , INSTRUCTION CACHt ONI 



Motinloih SE 

WITH HYPERCHARGER 020 
[RAM CACHt ONI 




4.22 



4.2S 



4.35 



5.20 




The IBM PC Convertible 3 odds a collection ol desktop utilities and RAM Ihot retains data 
when the system is turned oil, but it does not emulate colors in its LCD display. 

IBM PC Convertible 3 

Big Blue Laptop Update Offers 
Software, Nonvolatile RAM 



By Sherwin Levinson Review Board 

It's not that IBM is standing still with its 
Convertible laptop — note the Convert- 
ible i's new. more readable backlit liquid 
crystal display (LCD). It's just that the 
competition is moving much faster in 
improving laptops. 

Despite IBM's improvements to the 
Convertible, other laptops from other 
vendors already offer faster CPU perfor- 
mance, more memory, and more fea- 
tures — all for less money. Thus 
the Convertible .3 remains an undistin- 
guished entry in what has become a 
strongly competitive field. 

FEATURES: 

The PC Convertible .1 has some note- 
worthy features. Since the machine uses 
only nonvolatile memory, you can con- 
figure it to retain your work when it's 
shut olT. When you turn the machine on 
again, you're back exactly w here you left 
off. This feature can be a real time saver if 
you use programs that require lengthy 
setups. For example, if you deal with 
large spreadsheets, it's a real boon to be 
able to shut olTthe machine while you do 
other things (like board a plane), then 
turn it on and be back at the same cell 
you were working on without needing to 
reload the program and spreadsheet, then 
figure out exactly where you were when 
you left off. 

The other feature that stands out from 
the ordinary is the included software. A 
disk-based introduction to the PC Con- 
vertible makes particularly good use of 
graphics and should make it very easy for 
even a novice to learn to use the machine. 
Also included with the Convertible is a 
set of desktop tools that comes under the 
umbrella of the Application Manager: a 
notepad, a calculator, a telephone book, 
and an appointment scheduler. 

Once you've purchased DOS (an 
optional extra, for some reason), you 
may add your own application programs 
to the menu of desktop tools, or you may 
exit directly to DOS. In either case, any 
one of the desktop tools may be suspend- 



ed exactly where you leave it while you 
are using another one of the tools, 
another program, or DOS. This is a 
handy feature that is not supported by 
some other pop-up utilities packages, 
such as those supplied with the NEC 
Multispeed. 

PERFORMANCE: 

The new display is about average in 
readability for the current generation of 
electroluminescent (IX) backlit LCD 
displays. As with most backlit displays, it 
should be easily usable under just about 
any lighting conditions. 

Although wider than some, the dis- 
play is not as high as most. The display's 
ratio of w idth to height is a lopsided 2.9. 
compared to 1 .9 for the NEC Multispeed 
and 1..^ for the Zenith Z-I8I and Z-18.V 
This makes graphics intended for an IBM 
color graphics adapter (CGA) display 
appear particularly squashed. 

The display is easy to remove, which 
can be a real advantage if you intend to 
use an external monitor with the Con- 
vertible i. It appears, though, that IBM 
has made no effort to emulate colors on 
the LCD display. This limits its use- 
fulness with some software packages that 
make effective use of color, or at least 
requires that you reinstall software 
already set up for a color monitor so it 
will display in black and white. Compet- 
ing laptops show color in different shades 
of gray, and some machines let you 
modify the way color is shown to get the 
best contrast. 

IBM has not improved the Convert- 
ible's processing speed. The 80C88 pro- 
cessor still runs at 4.77 MHz, The 
Convertible 3's performance, which 
scored an XT-like 0.35 on InfoW'orhl's 
CPU test, does not approach the perfor- 
mance of machines like the NEC Multi- 
speed, the Toshiba T-llOO Plus, or the 
Datavue Spark, which run at speeds of 8 
MHz and higher. Scores for those 
machines range from 0.59 to 0.9 1 — all 
significantly better than the Convertible's 



showing. ( An IBM AT running at 6 MHz 
serves as the baseline of 1 .00 for the CPU 
speed test.) 

The Convertible .1 has finally caught 
up with its competitors in memory size, 
allow ing users to expand it to a full 640K. 
as against the original 512K maximum. 
But the base-price unit comes with just 
256K. 

All in all. the PC Convertible's 
performance doesn't stand out as any- 



Despite IBM's 
improvements, 
other laptops 
offer more — for 
less money. 



thing special. The capability to suspend 
applications when the machine is shut off 
is certainly a plus but is olTsel by the slow 
processor speed and lack of color emula- 
tion. We therefore rate performance sat- 
isfactory. 

DOCUMENTATION: 

The manual remains thorough and 
laudably comprehensive, although its 
ample coverage of power sources and 
other otV-Broadwa\ topics may cause 
some novices to nixl olT. There's also a 
disk-based introduction to the system's 
important features. 

The score for documentation remains 
very good. 

EASE OF USE: 

Despite the extra power drain of the PC 
Convertible's backlit display, its battery 
life exceeded 4 hours in our benchmark 
tests, which are designed to gauge the 
minimum life you can expect from the 
rechargeable battery under normal to 
heavy use. For comparison, battery life 
for other laptops we've tested with EL- 
backlit LCD displays ranged from about 
2"; to .^"4 hours. 

Battery life has its price, though, in 
terms of weight. The rugged metal case 
and high-capacity batten, help bring the 
weight to over 13 pounds, the heaviest 
laptop we've tested, excepting those with 
hard drives. 

Keyboard design is an issue with all 
laptops, and the Convertible has its 
quirks. The arrow keys in the cursor pad 
also function as the Page L;p, Page Down. 
Home, and End keys. .Also note that the 
Caps-Lock key is located above Ihe left 
Shift key, where you would normally 
expect to find the Control key, and the 
Control kev in turn is below the left Shift 
key. 

The included set of desktop tools is a 
plus. But this is offset by the machine's 
weight and its keyboard peculiarities. We 
rate the Convertible's ease of use 
satisfactory. 

SETUP: 

Setting up the basic system is quite easy. 
But you'll likely have more trouble 
installing options (such as memory up- 
grades), due largely to the sketchy 
instructions that are provided with the 
machine, 

.As before, setup cams a satisfactory 
rating, 

SERVICEABILITY: 

With the Convertible 3 you get extensive 
diagnostic software and are told clearly 
how to use it. The Convertible is covered 



84 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



Hardware Reviews 



INFO 
WORLD 



The PC Convertible's capability to 
suspend applications when shut off is a 
plus but is offset by the slow processor 

speed and lack of color emulation. 



by a one-year warranty. Extended sup- 
port plans are also available from IBM. 

We again rate serviceability as very 
good, largely because of the included 
diagnostics. 

VALUE: 

The price of the Convertible has 
dropped. Where the original Convertible 



cost $1,995. the Convertible 3 has a list 
price of $1,695 for a 256K machine with 
a backlit display and two 3'/;-inch disk 
drives. A 256K memory card costs $345. 
while the 128K memory upgrade costs 
$160. bringing the price of a 640K 
system to $2,200. 

This price does not include video 
outputs, serial port, printer port, or an 



operating system. By the time you add 
these options (which most people would 
consider necessities), the Convertible 3 
will cost you $2,770. substantially more 
than the Datavue Spark ($1,510). the 
NEC Multispecd ($2,495). or the Zenith 
Z-181 ($2.. 399). (For a more thorough 
comparison of these and other laptops, 
see the laptop special report in last week's 
issue.) All of these machines also substan- 
tially outperformed the Convertible 3 on 
our benchmark tests. Because the Con- 
vertible 3 costs more yel still does not 
perform as fast as competing machines in 
the market, we rate the Convertible 3 a 
poor value. 

Sherwin Levinson has been working with 
computers for more than 20 years, 
specializing in computer conferencing, 
telecommunications, and user support. 



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Review 



DATAEASE USERS RESPOND 

I am a microcomputer consultant, a 
systems analyst, and a programmer with 
several years' experience on the Datacasc 
database management software (re- 
viewed August 24). 

Under ease of use you complained 
that some of the report menus required a 
considerable number of keystrokes to get 
all the options. Dataease, however, al- 
lows the experienced user to type all 
statements into a simplified word pro- 
cessing environment, then checks them 
for syntax errors before moving on. You 
may even have Dataease show you all the 
options available at the point that a 
syntax error is detected. 

Under error handling you really gave 
Dataease an (undeserved) beating. You 
mention that you may enter a duplicate 
record by pressing F2 twice. If you had 
done your homework, you would have 
found that Dataease will automatically 
detect and prevent the entry of duplicate 
records, if the user simply defines an ade- 
quate unique key (something which can 
be easily done, and unlike many less 
capable programs, changed at will). 
Blaming Dataease for your inability to 
design an adequate application is hardly 
fair. Additionally, you criticized the 
capability to exit Dataease by using the 



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InfcMforld Product 
Reviews ... the Best. 



InfoWorld Product Reviews. For years PC professionals have 
considered them to be the best in the industry. The most timely. 
The most detailed. The most objective. The most authoritative 
and trustworthy. And for good reason. 

Our reputation for publishing the most respected Product Reviews 
didn't just happen. It was earned by evaluating products based on 
the toughest standards ... by involving experts from our 40- 
member Review Board to assure unbiased reviews . . . and then 
printing the truth — whether favorable or unfavorable. 

And now we're pleased to announce the establishment of our new 
on-site Product Test Center. Technological testing procedures will 
enable us to more closely scrutinize the features, capabilities, and 
error handling of each hardware and software product evaluated. 
But the experts responsible for InfoWorld's Tesi Center are best 
qualified to explain its full value. 




Jonathan Sacks 

Editor-in-Chief 

"InfoWorld Product Reviews 
help our readers make the best 
buying decisions. The most 
important question we can help 
them answer is 'Is this product 
worth investing in?' Our 
Product Reviews come from the 
very professionals to whom 
these products are geared." 



Michael McCarthy 

Reviews Editor 

"The InfoWorld Product 
Review is the result of a unique 
combination of real-world 
examination that comes from 
virtual field testing by actual 
users — and technical scrutiny 
that comes from the Test 
Center. It really does give 
readers the best of both 
worlds." 



Dorene Douglas 

Test Center Director 

"The difference that the Test 
Center makes to a Product 
Review goes beyond the mere 
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to the process. There's much 
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Executive Editor, Technology 

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Objective. Authoritative. And complete. 



INFO 



It turns out the biggest is also the best. 



WORLD 

THE PC NEWS WEEKLY 
An IL>G Communicatinns Publication 



INFO 
WORLD 



Hardware Reviews 



87 

SEPTEMBOt 21, 19S7 



Ctrl-C combination (while noting that 
Dataease recovers without data loss). 
First, you can avoid this by changing one 
line in your Config.Sys file to say 
■■Break = ofr." Second, since when is an 
adequately handled method of exiting a 
program a bug? In all the installations I 
have done (over 40) no one has ever lost 
data due to this problem. That is a track 
record which s|)eaks for itself 

As a longtime user of Dataease. let me 
make a couple of criticisms of the 
product. The company has a tendency to 
release products before they have been 
adequately tested (the recent recall of 
Dataease Multiuser is one example) and 
to announce product delivery dates to 
which they cannot hold (the seven- 
month delay in the delivery of the current 
Version 2.5 is an example). As you noted, 
their technical support department does 
a poor job of diagnosing problems and 
offering solutions. 

What your review did not detect was 
that once records and indexes reach a 
certain size (dep>ending on the number 
and size of the indexes and unique keys), 
Dataeasc's performance falls off drasti- 
cally. 1 have one application where the 
user waits 20 to 30 seconds after pressing 
the return key before the application is 
prepared to accept another record. This 
is obviously unacceptable. In other appli- 
cations, reports must be broken up, 
because Dataease does not have enough 
RAM 10 do the subgrouping and sorting 
required on large amounts of data. 
Reorganizing (the only way to rebuild 
damaged indexes or add a new index) can 
take as long as 18 hours on large 
databases. 



Fmally, though, let me reiterate that 
Dataease is a fine product that is vastly 
underrated by many database users (and 
reviewers). I have found it capable, 
reliable, and perfectly suited for many 
small to medium-size applications. It re- 
quired a medium amount of skill to 
program, and it also allows clerk-level 
typists to easily run sophisticated appli- 
cations. 

Lee Drake 
Database Consullarti 
Azatar Microsystems Inc. 

Rochester, NY 



I use Dataease constantly and cannot 
agree with the claim that a "major flaw" 
in the product involves being put back 
into DOS when the Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break 
keys arc hit. This is simply not a problem 
and certainly not a "major flaw." In my 
experience, I've never seen these key 
combinations pressed by accident. In 
fact, if I should want to break out quickly 
on purpose. I'm glad I have the option. 

In addition, my dealings with Data- 
ease support personnel have shown them 
to be extremely able in solving tough 
problems, so 1 can't agree with its rating 
of poor for support. 

Dan Craboi 
Solano Beach, CA 



Your review of Dataease confirms what 
many database consultants have known 
for a long time — that it is one of the 
most powerful, easy-to-develop applica- 
tions engines unknown to the common 
user. In a sea of quality DBMS products. 



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Dataease is a winner for the developer 
who is most concerned with the user's 
environment and needs. 

Dataease uses the F5 key and F6 key 
as form and field clears, respectively. To 
chastise the system for providing excel- 
lent user-oriented devices for rapid data- 
entry, calling them instead error handling 
"problems," is questionable. For the 
developer, the use of function keys is 
excellent for development tasks. For 
users who are shielded from the "back 
room" of the application, the function 
keys provide a myriad of features to ease 
data entry, report generation, and ad hoc 
queries. 

What is most incredible about the 
review is the comment on phone support. 
Have you ever gone through the recur- 
ring agony of trying to get timely support 
from Ashton-Tate on any of their 



products? I have never been disappointed 
with technical or timely support from 
Dataease or Microrim. 

As developers of vertical market 
DBMS applications that emphasize the 
interaction of the user with the systems, 
we find Dataease to be a gem. Its 
performance and ease of learning (and 
use) qualify it as a "must see" for any 
serious applications developer. 

Douglas J. Creenslein 
Director, Management Advisory Services 
Samuel Klein and Co. 

Newark, NJ 

InloWorld welcomes comments about its 
reviews. Letters are subiect to editing for 
space and clarity. Please address corre- 
spondence to the Reviews Editor, Info- 
World, 1060 Marsh Road, Suite C-200, 
Menio Park, CA 94025. 



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INFO 
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On t:he Horizon 

By William F. Zachmann 



RT PC Offers Unix-Based Alternative to IBM Proprietary Environments 



IBM recently held a briefing on IBM 
Unix for industry analysts and consul- 
tants. It was, for IBM events of this type, 
uncharacteristically informative and 
thought provoking. In addition to sum- 
marizing the significant content of the 
presentation here, we'll explore some of 
the possible ramifications. 

Significantly, the Boston seminar 
turned out to be focused at least as much 
on the RT PC as on Unix. Given that I 
had just about forgotten about the RT, 
mentally classifying it with the PCjr, I 



was surprised to find myself taking a 
renewed interest in it. 

Credit for that must go to a very well- 
informed, as well as informative, presen- 
tation by Larry Loucks. a member of 
IBM's senior technical staff at the IBM 
Engineering Systems Products Division 
in Austin, Texas, and a key system 
architect of the RT PC. Seeing the RT 
from Loucks" perspective made more 
sense than previous impressions I'd had. 

In the first place, it was very clear that 
the link between Unix and the RT PC is 



no accident. In Loucks' vision of the 
world, on the contrary, Unix and the RT 
are simply aspects of a single approach to 
computing. What is most fascinating 
about this view, however, is how difTer- 
ent it is from IBM's mainstream view. 

What Loucks described was a 
consistent operating system and net- 
working strategy stretching from the 
desktop to the mainframe based upon an 
IBM-enhanced Posix (the emerging IEEE 
standard version of AT&T's Unix) in the 
form of IBM's AIX. This amounts, in 



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m their software. They have taken this action for one reason — you. 
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software firms responded and have given you what you requested. 

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mention all the people who support users. They have a right to be 
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removing copy protection from their software, publishers are relying 
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industry to continue developing even better and more innovative 
software. Please do not abuse the tmst the industry has placed in you. 

Do not make unauthorized copies of software. 

Software Publishers Association 
1101 Connecticut Avenue NW 
Suite 901 
Washington, D.C. 20036 



fact, to what is in effect a "shadow 
architecture" paralleling IBM's main- 
stream OS/2-to-MVS/SNA/SAA world. 

What makes this remarkable is that it 
clearly is not just some sort of aberrant, 
subversive strategy being pushed from 
some remote comer of IBM. . 

Undoubtedly the primary reason for 
this is that IBM wants to be a viable 
competitor in markets where, for one 
reason or another. Unix is required. The 
initial introduction of IBM's Unix 
version to run under VM was obviously 
motivated by the IBM Federal Systems 
Division's need to have a standard Unix 
offering in order to bid on U.S. govern- 
ment procurements that required it. 

University computing environments 
and high-end engineering and scientific 
workstations are the two other primary 
markets where IBM clearly recognizes a 
requirement for Unix. 

While IBM obviously prefers to sell its 
more proprietary operating system and 
networking alternatives wherever possi- 
ble, the recent presentation marks a 
growing awareness of the need for a Unix 
alternative. By supporting the IEEE 
Posix efforts, IBM apparently hopes at 
least to avoid playing according to 
AT&T's rules and to gain more control 
over the standard environment. 

The IBM RT is now certainly the 
focus for IBM's Unix-related activity. 
The Unix V.l -based IBM AIX operating 
system provides the standard for the 
development of AIX for the Intel 386- 
based PS/2 Model 80. Undoubtedly a 
370/309X/43XX/9370 version of AIX 
from IBM is not faraway. 

The inevitable result of all this, 
however, is that IBM is necessarily 
providing users with a Unix (Pbsix. 
eventually) alternative to IBM's 
mainstream, proprietary operating sys- 
tem and application environment. By 
doing what is necessary to compete in 
markets that require Unix, IBM makes 
Unix a more viable alternative to IBM's 
proprietary environment as well. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that 
Loucks and others indicated that IBM 
has no near-term intention of building 
IBM Systems Applications Architecture 
capabilities into the IBM AIX environ- 
ment. To do so could open the door to 
massive defections from IBM proprietary 
environments to the more standardized 
AIX environment of Unix/Rjsix. 

Like the opening of Pandora's box. 
however. IBM's ventures into the Unix 
realm set loose demons that are not easily 
contained again. 

The inevitable result of all this will be 
an increasingly easy path from IBM's 
traditional proprietary software environ- 
ments into non-proprietary Unix (or 
Posix) environments. Combined with the 
PC/DOS-to-Unix path that will be pro- 
vided by AIX on the PS/2 Model 80 and 
by similar software on other Intel 386- 
based systems, the likely result will be a 
bigger role for Unix and a tougher time 
keeping users tied to the proprietary 
operating environments that all systems 
vendors, including IBM. have counted 
on to bind their users to them in the past. 

William F. Zachmann is vice president of 
corporate research for International Data 
Corp., a market research firm owned by 
the same parent company as InfoWorld. 
The views expressed are his own. 



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send check/money order for $189 
(NY residents add sales tax).. 



Utilities 



OnSCall 



ON-CAU BEATS RAM-CRAM! 

Load up to 40 Resident Pn>grams! 
More Krtx' RAM for those BIG jobs! 
No more fights between programs! 
Eliminate Hot-Key confusion! 
Fast system startup! 
Intro, price $54.95 - Not copy prted. 
I-80(M43-4I34. In MI 3l3-«9-09l2 

Forest Hill SoftHauN Inc. 
6689 Orchard Lake Road. Suite 267 
West Bloomfield, Ml 48322 



InfoWorld s SOFTWARE MARKET 

Now you can move those software packages quickly, with very little 
cost to you! Our Software Market is designed to provide advertisers 
with a low-cost advertising alternative, and to offer both our readers 
and advertisers an easy reference guide. The Software !V1arl<et also 
offers software display advertisers a forum to cross-reference their 
current display ads. 

SOFTWARE MARKET ads appear in a 1 column by 2" format. 
Categories for software packages are at the discretion of the 
advertiser. Logo permitted is camera ready. Charge for typesetting 
copy is $20. 

MECHANICAL SPECIFICATIONS: 

Number of Columns: 5 

Ads per Column: 5 

Column Width: W*" 

Ad Length: 2" (including logo) 

RATES: 

Ix: $130 + $20 first time or reset 
51x: $1 10 + $20 first time or reset 
Rates are per issue, per 2" block 

Closing date is every Wednesday at noon, 12 days prior to 
publication date. To place you ad, send your copy (and payment for 
first time advertisers) to: 

InfoWorld Cla.ssified Advertising 
1060 Marsh Road, Suite C-200 
Menio Park, CA 94025 
Or call 800/227-8365. 

In California, 800/344-4636 or 415/328-4602. 

IIMFO 



WORLD 

THE l-'O NtWS WEEKLY 



Utilities 



Total Printer Control 

Now easily atxess all printer features 
from a pop-up menu. Embed ctxJes to 
gel bold, underiine. compressed & 
more within any software (spread- 
sheet, editor, etc). Spooler lets you use 
computer while priming. Control mul- 
tiple printers. Printtasc'" docs it all. 
Tech suf^rt. Mone\-hack guarantee. 
$59.95 MC/VISA/C6d. Add $3 S/H. 
SDC Innovations, Inc. 
10615-0 l ierrrasanla BUd^ #122 
San DicRo. C\ 92124 
800-255-6158 (National) 
800-426-9670 (California) 
619-565-1200 



Something New 
at InfoWorld! 

Advertise your software 
package in the Software 
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prices! Ad closing is every 
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days prior to publication. 
Call for more information 
TODAY!!! 

InfoWodd Classified 
Advertising 41 5/328-4602, 
in California 800/344-4636. 
Outside California 
800/227-8365. 
In So. CA, WA, OR, & UT 
call 714/250-1305 or 
800/262-8277. 



TAME YOUR PC 

A backup utility should not just make 
lire more secure, it should make life 
easier. Does youis? SyDchromesh 
does. A DOS shell shouM rot just 
make your PC or compatible easier to 
use, it should also get out of your way 
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yours? Synchromesh does. We crossed 
the idea of a tiackup utility with that 
of a DOS shell to get Synchromesh. 
Call for more information about the 
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617-393-9383 800-666-1211 



PI 

Your 

Ad 
In This 



Call 415/328-4602, 
800/227-8365 (In Calif., 
800/344-4636). 



SEPTEMin 21, 1987 S* 



PC Teleshopper 



INFCWORLD 




j^^HE "CLICKTACTILE FEEL" OF AN ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER 



FUNCTION KEYS Fl 
THROUGH F12 



ENLMiGEa BACKSenCE 



ERASABLE NOrTATION 
STRIP l£TS VOU 
PENCIL IN REMINDERS 
OF KEY FUNCTIONS 
FOR YOUR DIFFERENT 
PROGRAM COMMANDS 



WE MOVED THE 
BACKSLASH KEY HERE 
FOR CONVENIENCE 



isbacR! 



BV/SE. SCROLL LOCK, 
PRINT SCREEN KEVS 



CAPS LOCK. SCROU. 
LOCK. NUM LOCK LED 



DEDICATED KEYS FOR 
SCREEN CONTROL AND 
CURSOR MOVEMENT 



MATH ENTRY PAD WITH 
STANIWKD 10 K£V 
ADDING MACHINE 
NUMERIC KEYS. FOUR 
MATH OPERATOR KEYS 
AND ENLARGED ENTER 
KEY 




THE TOUCH, THE 
SOUND, THE FEEL OF A 
SELECTRIC TYPEWRITER. YOU CAN 
GET IT NOW! INTRODUCmG THE 
NORTHGATE "CIT" (Click-'Kictlle) 

You're reading this ad because your 
current keyboard leaves a lot to be 
desired. IBM set the standard with the 
original PC Keyboard. And nothing else 
came close - UNTIL NCAV! 

LOW QUALITY CLONE KEYBOARDS 
EQUAL LOW COST CLONES... 

Why are most clone keytioards so 
lacking? Because clone makers buy low 
cost keyboards to keep system costs 
down. The majority come from three 
manufacturers — FfcyiVonlcs, Maxi- 
Swltch and BTC. AU have a rubber-like 
membrane beneath the keys. Thatfe 
why they feel spongy No sound, no 
senscitlon. Just a mushy feel and a 
distant "thunk" as the key hits bottom. 

Wfe searched the world three years 
to find the Ideal keyboard. \Wth the 
fetX, sound and touch of an electric 
tyjjewriter Whose keys give a solid, 
positive entry WE POUND IT! And 
now Ws standard with all Northgate 
XTurbo and ATurbo Systems. 

OUR CUSTOMERS TOLD US 
"SELL THESE KEYBOARDS" 
TO EVERYONE! 

lb our delight buyers of our systems* 
b^an buying our "C/T" keyboards to 
replace those they purchased before 
they discovered Northgate quality and 
value It was these customers who 
suggested we offer the new "C/T" 
Ke^OEutl to all PC users looking 
for a better keyboard. 

•Ask about Ihe New NonhgOe ATurbo-a Complete lOMHz 
■tOMB Hard Drive System SI 799.00 



SOLID CLICK 



REDUCED 
RESISTANCE 



TRY THE NORTHGATE "C/T'... 
YOU1.L FEEL THE DIFFERENCE. 

Plug the Northgate "C/T" into your 
system. Press a key WOW! At first touch 
you know this is it! The key passes 
detent at center p)osiUon with a slightly 
audible "cllckr Sound and cheinge in 
tension tells your fingers youve made 
an entry As the key bottoms, a more 
positive click confirms the entry and 
signals the finger to release and hit 
another key Tbuch typists love it. 



New sculptured 
prcfite design 




In actual typing tests, speed 
increased by up to 28 percent 
with a 16 to 20 percent 
reduction in errors. Besides 
making typing enjoyable 
again, the increases In 
production you will get with 
the "C/T" should be enough 
reason to replace all your 
keyboards! 



Is in Alps Ifcyswitches. the most 
expensive, highest quality switches 
available for keyboards. Somedajc buyers 
will demand all computer keyboards 
have the feel of the Northgate "C/T" and 
all keyboards will be made with Alps 
Switches. Fbr now. only the very highest 
priced boards use them. 

Because Northgate buys in tremendous 
quantities for our XTurbo and ATurbo 
Systems* we can ofler the "C/T" Key- 
boEirds at these sfjectacular prices! 

PHONE ORDERS TOLL FREE 
Phones Ansivered 24 Hours 

800-328-8907 

OR MAIL YOUR ORDER TODAY 



NORTHGATE 
COMPUTER 
SYSTEMS 



Fbr orders of 10 or more phone our 
general office at 612-553-0111 




[7] YES! Ship the foUowing: 

(quan) Northgate "C/T" - 101 KeyboanU (a $99.0O E«. 

(quanl Northgate "C/T" - 84 Keyboards (<i $79.00 Ea. 

Ship to: 

Street Address 




Company . 

City. 

Phone 



.Slate. 



.Zip 



. Type of Computer _ 



Bill my: VISA 

No / 

Kxp. Dale 



MASTER 



Check Enclosed 8 _ 



Send lb: Northgate Computer Systems 

2905 NorlhUT-sI Boulevard Suite 250 
Plvmoiilh. Minnesota 55441 



NOTE fM S7 (» Sliippinc and 
Handling. Alluu- 2 id .1 Wriis Irom 
Ord#r Dale. Nfxl Ua\' and Omuwhx 
shipping availablr ~ add !»]2 00 fc>r 
Second Dav 822.00 far 0\Tniliih1 



1' 



90 SEPTEMIR 21. 19S7 



aerial 



^OWORLD 



Standard-286/8 



PC Magazine 
Editor's Choice 





Mm 



The only thing standard with theStandard-28611 that 
I tested was Its ATcompatiblltyand Its name. With 
Its 8-MHz clock, zero wait state, speed and reset switches, 
and six IS-blt buses, theStandard-286 II stands 
out from Its competition. ..Its performance, features, 
and price are enough to make me want to take It 
home." VlcentPugllaPCMaga2ln«Vol.6*3 

• SMHzSpeed 

• AT Style Keyboard 

• Phoenix BIOS 

• 1.2MB Floppy Drive 

• One Year Warranty 

• 0 Walt State 

• Intel 80286 

• 200 Watt PowerSupply 

• Cloci</Calenclar 
w/Battery Back-up 

• OneYearWarranty 




I I I I I I I I I 

I r I I I I I I I 
« I I i I I I I I 



Monltof not I nctudtd 



$945 



Enhanced Versions: 

Standard-286/10 

10MHz processing speed with one wait state. 

Standard-286/12 

1 2MHz processing speed with one wait state . 



$995 
$1495 



M onoG raphics Video 




MonoGraphics Card 

TextmodeSOcoi. s 25 Samsung 

characters, graphics mot\ 1 2" (lat screen with 

mode 720 X 348 pixels $w<> tllt&swIveltMse... 



$109 



Mono Combo 



and monitor #10w 



EGA Vide 




EQACard 

640 X 350 pixels, 
2S6KB Display RAIl«. #109 



$439 



EGA Combo 



EGA card 
and monitor. 



$579 



20&30MBFIashCard 



I 




PC Magazine 
Editor's Choice 

• Westemdigltal controller 

• Boots from FlashCard 

• One year warranty 

• Shock mounted 

• 3M"harddlsk 

FlashCard-20 $369 

FlashCard-SO $419 



Hard Drive Kits For PC's 



• MInlScrlbe hard disk drive 

• Western digital controller 
' Cables 

• Mounting hardware 

• Complete Illustrated Installation manual 

20MB $339 

30MB $419 




360KB Diskette Drives 




Halt-height diskette drive for 
the AT, with a gray faceplate 

ForAT's $109 

Haif-heiQhi diskette drive for 
tt>e PC, w i ih a blacif faceplate 

For PC's $99 



I 



I/O Card 




Serial port , parai lei port .clock/ 
calendar with battery backup, 
and gan>e port for your PC. AT 
version also available. . - 



$69 



Keyboards 



,.$89 
..$69 

506 0-AT style $69 



101>Key enhanced. 
S1S1 



Mulitlfuntion Cards 




For PC's: serial, paranei. & V^oc 
game ports, 384KBRAM. . . . 9 I^O 
ForAT's; f.orial, & parallel ports. 
0KBRAMexpandat>leto1.5l^^.l<]A 
(3MBwlthpfggybacl<optlon). ♦ lOW 




AT Hard Drives 

High performance, fast access 
diskdrlvesforyourlBM* AT. 
Kit includes hard drive, cables, 
Installation instructions, parti- 
tioning software, mounting 
rails, and one-year warranty. 

43MB MinlScribe(28ms) . . $585 
71MB MinlScribe(28ms) . $859 



STANDARD TURBO/10 



The Standard Turbo-10 breaks 
the 8088 turbo speed barrier: 

• Kaytward-selectable 4.77MHz 
10MHz processing spaed 

• 640KB random-access 
memory Included 

• Keyboard lock 

• System reset button 

• ATim style keyboard 
■ Eight expansion slots 

• Intel 8088-1 processor 

• One 360KB half-heigfit 
diskettedrivewlth 
diskette drive controller 



$495 




Monilornol Included 



STANDARD TURBO/8 



• Keyboard-selectable4.77MHz 
8MHz processing speed 

• 256KB random-access 
memory expandable to 
640KB on motherboard 

• ATim style keyboard 

• Eight expansion slots 

• Intel 8088-2 processor 

• One 360KB half-height 
diskettedrivewlth 
diskette drive controller 




$399 



Monitor not Included 



"Professional Starter Kit" 

Every1hlr>g You Need To Begin Sertous Computing ImmedMalyll 




CompUtef-28e/10MHz system with Intel 80286 processor<wlth switch- 
selectable 6MHz or lOMHz processing speed), Phoenix ROM BIOS, 
512KB RAM, (expandable to 1 M B on motherboard), 8 expansion slots, 
200 watt power supply, 1 .2MB floppy drive. 5060 style keyboard, dual 
floppy/hard drive controller, clock/calendar w/battery backup. 

Monltor-MIgh resolution (750 x 350) amber monochrome monitor with 
12" display screen, monochrome graphics card with parallel port. 

Printsr-Epson LX-dOO has the quality and software compatibility you 
expect from Epson, plus draft(150-iaOCPS) or Near Letter Quality pdntlrfo, 
multiple typestyles, Epson Character Graphics set, dot graphics capability, 

and tractor/friction paper feed. 

Sof twarft-Profeatloful Zen Softwara,a totally Integrated software 
package- Zen Word supports multiple type styles and over 50 printer 
tviMsand features mall merge and spelling checker, Llghtening-fastZen 
dale provides 45 statistical and mathematical functions. Zen Link 
supports ANSI-X and VT-100. You can cut and paste between all Zen 
modules MS-DOS 3.21 and QW BASIC also are Included, and 
software comes with complete documentation. 
Acc688Ori9S*200 Sheets contlnuoua-form paper, printer cable, and 
lOblankdiskettes- _ ^_ 

Only $1395 

EGA Version wlthM' hlgh-resolutlonnftonltorand ^4 TQC 
enhancedgraphlcsadaptercard <P I # w w 



Al CompuAdd Our Fln« Print is In Your Favor 

Wt otftrlhebnl Mrvic« and »upport availablaln ih« mall ord«r industry . 90 you can purchase with confidance: 

• FREE on»-yMr warranty ■ FREE30-<]aymoney-backouafant»e • FREEUPSgroundshlpplnglntheconlinenlal 

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All ratum llama must be accompaniad by a Raturn Authorization number, call our technical support/customer aenice depadment. Prices are subiect to chartga. 
Texas residents please add 7 u % sales tax. Carwdlan residents add duty tax. 

Corporate and Institutional Accounts 

We are dedicated lo providing the protesaiona) service you require to Keep your business running smoothly, Weaccept purchase orders on a NetTerms basis with a 
minimum purcKaae of S50. We provideafuii-iime technical slati 10 answer your questions and maKe fast repairs tt needed. Call us today: We Make Your Job Eaaler. 
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CompuPdc) 

?;?°°;624-4025 

InTexasCall: 512-250-5541 l ^gT I i^SI 
Tech Support: 80O-527-3125 . ^^ l 
12303-Q Tectinoiogy Blvd. Austin, Tx. 78727 



SEPTEINBER2I, 1987 91 



PC Teleshopper 



INFr WORLD 



Training News^ 



Career Advancement 

Learn C 

t's fantastic!" says Barry 
X Pronk, now a systems pro- 
grammer at a Miami optical firm. 
"/ couldn't afford $1000 for a 
week-long C course, and most 
books on C left me cold. But the 
$195 C Video Workshop rental 
helped me to round out my pro- 
gramming background." 

Th* D«v«lop«r's Cholc* 

C Language is the choice of software de- 
velopers around the world who like its 
power and ponability. But new C pro- 
grammers often hit snags getting up to 
speed because C can be tricky to learn. 

LMm at Home or Woric 

Now finally, the All-Hands-On C Video 
Workshop makes it possible for you to 
leam C language at home or at work, 
quickly, economically, and enjoyably. 
The All-Hands-On C Video Workshop 
captures the essence of a Ave day C Lan- 
guage course. You will leam all features 
of C from operators and expressions 
through pointers and structures. 

TiM Corporate Standard 

The C Video Workshop is in use at hun- 
dreds of corporations like DEC, IBM, 
and Lotus. They And it to be the most 
comprehensive and popular C course 
ever. 

Oroat Studont Matorials 

Previously only available for sale, the 
Workshop is now offered for use on a 
rental basis. Tuition for the Workshop 
is $19S(additional students need only 
purchase a set of student materials for 
$65). The tuition includes the rental of 
the course for two weeks, and a set of 
student materials containing a textbook, 
a workbook, and a disk. The student ma- 
terials are yours to keep. 

Ront or Buy and Savo $$$ 

The C Video Workshop is also available 
for sale at $1295. But if you order before 
October 1, 1987, you can purchase the 
tapes for just $995. So the choice is 
yours ~ rent the tapes for $195 or pur- 
chase them for $995. 

Call (800) 537-0040 or send in 
the coupon. 



Learn 
1-2-3 Fast 

iCf^inally. we've solved our 1-2-3 
Jr training problems," says Rob- 
ert Baker, a Boston CPA. "The All- 
Hands-On 1-2-3 Learning Disk teaches 
new staff faster and better than any oth- 
er method we have tried." 

Th« Boat Way to Loam 

Lotus 1 -2-3 users need help getting 
started. The All-Hands-On Learning 
Disk is a private tutor for 1-2-3: it pro- 
vides complete in-depth training from 
spreadsheet basics through advanced for- 
matting and macros. The teaming 
Disk works directly with Lotus 1-2-3. 
It is not a simulation. 

Loam by Doing it RiflM 

Using the actual 1 -2-3 program speeds 
learning by offering immediate feedback 
and results - even print out worksheets 
and display graphs. By doing real work 
correctly the first time, learning lime is 
dramatically reduced, while retention is 
improved by as much as 300%. And 
the educators at Hands On Learning are 
so confident of the effectiveness of the 
Learning Disk thai they offer a 30 day 
Money Back Guarantee. 

TtM Buslnosa Choico 

See why Fortune 500 companies as 

well as leading universities are using 

All-Hands-On Learning Disks. The cost 

is only $79. Order now! 

Call (800) 537-0040 or use the 

coupon. 



^HandsOn 
Learning 

New: 1-2-3 Now Has 
On- Line Interactive Heip 

Experts and Beginners Say Sherpa is the Most 
Helpful Help. Read Why 

( iT "^^ ^'^--^ ell the time " says David B. Shaw, a concert pro- 

X moter in Oregon, "but with Sherpa for 1-2-3 1 have become a 
1-2-3 expert. I never need the manual or Help anymore." 



Throw tho Book Away 

Finally, 1-2-3 users can have instant 
on-line help for Lotus features. All- 
Hands-On Sherpa for 1-2-3 is an on-line 
interactive guide for experienced 1-2-3 
users. Only Sherpa guides you through 
I -2-3 commands with your own data. 
You won't need the manual. 

Dramatic Improvomont 

Sherpa works directly with 1-2-3 on 
your own spreadsheet with your own 
data. You never have to leave 1 -2-3. 
Pressing the Fl key brings up Sherpa's 
menu of guided interactive walk- 
throughs and eliminates the need to u.se 
1-2-3's limited help facility. 

Complex Features Made Easy 

Sherpa provides help with graphing, 
printing, sorting, formatting, date arith- 
metic, databa.se operations, lookup, irr, 
future value and many more I -2-3 oper- 
ations. It's the quickest way to use all 
of 1-2-3 features without reading the 
manual and it's totally interactive!! 



Learning Disk is Best Way to 
Learn WordPerfect 



Why Thousands of New 
Their Manuals 

jordPerfect's manual didn't 
help us to learn the program, 
and the included disk tutorial is even 
worse ," says Jason Shulman, a New 
York publisher, "but the All-Hands-On 
Learning Disk trained my entire staff in 
one day.'" 

Novices Become Experts 

Unlike other training methods, the All- 
Hands-On WordPerfect Learning Disk 
works directly with WordPerfect providing 
the most complete and in depth training 
available. If you have WordPerfect, you 
need the All-Hands-On Learning Disk. 



WordPerfect Users Gave Up On 



Rave Reviews 

PC Magazine calls the Learning 
Disk "more thorough, more interest- 
ing, and more enjoyable than others." 
It's the fastest and best way to leam. 
The Library Software Review 
says you can "learn the fundamentals 
of WordPerfect without ever having to 
open the manual." 

Fully Ouaranteed 

All Learning Disks come with a 30 
day Money Back Guarantee. Only $79. 
Call (800) 537-0040 or send in 
the coupon. 



Order Now! (800) 537-0040 



Please send me the following 



□ PerfeclPal $79 {+$3 s/h) 

□ All-Hjinds-On WordPerfect Learning 

Disk for WordPerfect 04.1 or (34.2 
$79 (+$3 s^) 

□ Special! PerlectPal + 
WordPerfect Learning Disk 

for 04.1 or 04.2 $135(+$5srti) 



All-Hands-On 123 Learning Disk 
$79 (+3 s/h) 

All-Hands-On Sherpa for 1-2-3 
$79 (■i-$3sh) 

Special! 1 -2-3 Learning Disk + 
Sherpa $135(+$5s/h) 



Name 



Company 

Phone 

Saa/Zp 



□ All-Hands-On C Vkleo Rental Kit ii 
□VHS or □ Beta $1 95 (+$1 2 s/h) 

□ Add!. C Video Student Materials 
$65(+6 s/h) 

a All-Hands-On C Video Workshop 
Purchase in QVHS or QBeta 
$995(+$12s/h) 



□ Ctwck enclosed □ Visa □ MO OAinEx 



Quality You Can Count On 

Sherpa helps you avoid mistakes while 
you are performing unfamiliar 1-2-3 
commands. And Sherpa is distributed 
by Hands On Learning , the leading 
publisher of computer training and sup- 
port material in the country. Over 
500,000 people have been trained with 
Hands On Learning products. 

Special Offer - Save SSSI 

All-Hands-On Sherpa for I -2-3 is avail- 
able directly from Hands On Learning 
for $79(+$3 s/h) but for a limited time, 
you can get Sherpa and the 1 -2-3 Learn- 
ing Disk($79) for just $135 - a $15 
savings. 

Call (800) 537-0040 or send in 
the coupon below. 

WordPerfect 
Made More 
Powerful 

PerfeclPal is the Perfect 
Add-on to WordPerfect 

WordPerfect users are clamoring 
for relief from the tyratuiy of 
function keys. But now, for the first 
time, help is here. PerfectPal is a pro- 
ductivity tool that provides complete 
one-key access to all of WordPerfect's 
functions and makes the advanced func- 
tions of WordPerfect easy-to-use. 

Master Advanced Features 

PerfectPal helps users achieve mastery 
of and instant access to WordPerfect's 
advanced features like indexing, math, 
table of authorities, and line drawing . 
The program makes all of WordPerfect's 
functions easy to rememlier. PerfectPal 
is uniquely popular among all levels of 
WordPerfect users. 

increased Productivity 

PerfectPal runs directly from WordPer- 
fect and takes up no additional memory. 
PerfectPal comes with a keyboard tem- 
plate for even faster access to all fea- 
T tures. And it uses and teaches WordPer- 
fect's macro facility. 

Save $$S - Order Now 

Perfect Pal is just $79(+$3s/h). But if 
you order now, you can get both Perfect 
Pal and the All-Hands-On WordPerfect 
Learning Disk for Just $133. 



E>p.091a 



SIgnam 



I • I (800) 537-0040 

^HandsOn 
Learning 

conroKitTioa 

Three Courthous* Lane 
OieliTistord. Mus 01824 



WORLD 



brother 



Printer Sale! 



Brother printers are known for their reliability, performan- 
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M'lTW - II hM laMura* MmLar <□ 
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NEWI M-17Z4 - A ifuly varui>« 
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NEWI M-401B - A lupar Ian 480ti» 
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NEWI Twinritor 6 - It you behave 2 
haacH art MTtvr than or>a, 1 
Tne dot maina h«d crecta* criipgn I 
(ih<c% and prmti dra*! taat 9t 700cpt| 
and It* dai«vwhMi i 
ly te«t at 36ep». Compat^jie 
n«w> integraiad texTi'B'ep'oc* tofiwarc 
focti a* Lotui A Framenvofk, Psrallui 
inta-laca , $CALL 




LX-W - 1?0ep*. aOcol . . . $179 
FXME - 24C>cpi BO column. .$315 
FX-29ftE - 240c:p«. 133 c>olumnt439 

1x^1000 - 30o5fc 1» eol.. . 
LOW) - IMcp*. 24«tn.M e«l 
taiOOO - laOcpa. m eol 
LO-ZSOO - 334cpa. 1 32 eol. 

. HOMEWRITER 10 

Dot matrix printar with 
qualrtv prmbng « a homa 
prio. 100cp* diafi ipMd, M 

Lt«it299 Jipacia/ $139 



FORTIS 



Fonit OM-1310 - 1 30cpt I33cp* N LO). 

80 column «M6 

FortaDM-ZOlO - ZOOdS, SOcpa NLQ. 
90 colum. amulatai Epaon FX-2S6 
and IBM graphic* pcmiar SCALL 
Font* DM-2015 - Similar to DM TOIO 

but 130 column SCALL 

forta OM-ZO - 1G0 cpt dot mair.ii. 
36 col.. NLQ mod*, bod p*iall«l 
nd leiMl int«rfac«i. _ . . . . $499 
Forw* DX-25 - Tbcfn a»<tv^^i , 133 
Giumn. TK bulfer. ou>at oo*'al>on, 
luiii .n part^lal A 




DICONIX ISOP tnit Jat Pr.niar - 
Tha wofM'i moR portable printer. 
Ideal companion with lap-lop compu- 
lar *3a6 





GENICOM 

H:ff! ipMtf, /<Mi>y ttuty, 18-O'n aol 
mjt/in pnnmn tor bviintt ul» 

3320 r SllL- 

3404 - 40aepe. aerial ktsHaca S16«e 




irTI-,nL,.i l'^0rn(.00rol S31 

! P Qumjat Plut, 132 col %S6 

" L.1-rf« $1,61 

t P Laurial VariMtn 2 .... . $1.« 



IPC 10 Copivr - Manual taod. compact 

($795H479 

IPC 20 Coplw - lOO-meei leader. M9 

I$1.09ftt 

Black lotMr/drum cartridira ... $76 
Blue, brown, red cartridge . . 




IBMProprmter2.340cpi. SOcol S51B 
IBM Proprlfttar XL24. above but 133 

cotumn S899 

Qiiwwrne* 3 Special SI. 150 

Ou.twrlt>r-3.?74cpa ... $1395 



182P. 130cp(, 80 Col . Parnl^i $369 
192*ieOcpi.80coi Parallel $389 
193* 160 cp*. 136 CDi. Parallel $S79 
294. 400«p*. laOcol ...... $1,060 

L**arlirt»< w/perallel l/F .$1399 



KX-P1D91I - IfrOcpt. BO eol . $249 

KX-P1S92 - 370cp*. 133co< . $460 

KX-P1596 - 360ept, 132 eol . S575 

KX-P3J51 - 23cpidai«vwh<ot $a$fi 



SB-10.;4- oin.80ct>lumn . . ,»379i 
P3215L MotMl 3 - 24-p.r, haad. 



P351 Modal 2 

P341 , 

P341E 



I $699 
SS89 
.S669 



AST Rampeva w/356K tor XT .$246 
AST Rampage 286 W/512K . . J41B 

AST 3G' Card J339 

AST 3G-P»k .$389 

ATI EGA Wonder CanI $276 

EGA Card .$225 

Multi function Memory Card,0'K$8S 
Muhl-turtction Memory w/3fl4KSt5& 
Everex EMS Mamory w/IMB .$299 
EvoreN EMS friamory w/3 MB 
Harcuiai Color Card w/par, partS156 
HerojIaCraphics-FlutCard. . .$186 
Cenwic Serial Card IRS-2321 . . $29 

Fropov Didi Controller $35 

I/O card for PC, XT $69 

1,'OCiTdforAT 

Parallel prlrttar card SBB 

Orchid Tiny Turbo 286 .... .8369 
PiradfM Auto Switch EGA . . .$325 

Tixan S&7 color card .S199 

Taian Buloiwitch EGA card. . J269 
Tacmar Graphio Maeiar .... .$396 
V-ga EGA Deluxe aid . . . . $346 



[NoioII Netware«/PC Nat C»rd Key 
tor 8 uwr* .... «paeial $876 
OrehKlPCNatCard, ^25 




PLOTTER SALE 

ROLAND 
DXY.680.8-pen A/B*in .... :$996 

DXVMOGPIH-PI/FI $1,096 

DXV^aO.B-pen $1,296 

DXV«85,8-pen $1,295 

DXV-990.Bpen $1,696 

HEWLETT PACKARD 
7440A Color Pro - B-pen . . .$975 

747SA - 6-p«i $1 J9S 

7&60A - 8-pen $2^0 




Solid Teak Accessories 

Tired ol D a»(it7 Trv !'■■- oeautituilv 

Smalt Prinl StanctlBO col.) . S29JX) 
Lai** Pr>r>t Slanri <1» cal I *3fi 00 

5K"Diri>atteCaBa(hoM*70l - $23 
3-i" Onkette OiCB Iholdt 301 $19 
3-^ ' Di0.eiie C»ie(lvoldi lOOi S35 



«899 1 025 1 155011699 
ig|y!a'[$949 1075ll585il745 



HARD DISK SALE! 



New Low Prices! 




m Half heigM inlernal herd dMu for IBM.PC. 
XT end Compatible*. 

• Boot* directW from had dbk 

• Low power eonaumptton 

• Complete with controller, manual. eabiM & 
mounting hardware 




HARD DISK FOR IBM-AT 9t COMPATIBLES 




30^B Seagate 4038 tuiiht . . $535 
40-MB Seagate 4051 luii hi . . S675 
40 MB Seagate 251 .heiiM . .S575 
82-MB Saagatfl 4096 lui) m . . $895 



410A An<t.#i « I.-M1 .S169 
Amd*« 732,flGB Cok>r Monitor$636 
IBM B503 - 12" B/W Monitor .$225 
IBM 8512- 14" Color Monitor S54g 
IBM 8513 - 12" Color Monitor S626 
NEC JC1401P - U^Multityn 4549 
PCS HX12E 12" EGA. ROB S4*b 
PCS SR 12 - PGA Color .Sale$496 
□M )4A - 1 
fwhrei bete . . 
DM 14G - 13" green < 



t<lt & iwrvel b 



Quimai PX-4 - RGB Color 
Rolind 142 - Black/Whne 
Samairm 12" Amber w/o bai 
Samtung 12" Green w/o beM 
Samiurq 12" Amber w/beae. 
Semiuns 12" Grenn w/boM 
Samiung 14" RGB w/be« . 
Samiur^ 14" EGA Color. . . 
Sony FV1311 - RQBA TV. 
Sony SPD 1X2 ~ EGA tiAull«vn$&gB 
TatungCM 1370 - RGB Color .$375 
Tatung 1380 - EGA Color . ~ 
Taian 636 - 12" RGB Color 
Tanan &0 - 12" RGB Color 
Taxen 760 - 14" EGA Color 
Taaan 770 - Multnyn Color 
Thompaon 14" RGB Color . 



lOiM control center A lurge 
w'4 hj^ied ertd a n 
iwltcne* (or computer, printer and 
II alio fitter* out EMI 8 

RFI intB'terencai $79 

P-2 - Nke P-22 tjul w/5 twitche* S109 
P 12 -Mat 6 swiTcFici A dock . .$149 



BERNOULLI 
BOX 
I0*10**e "$1398 

3O*}0MB S177S 
Non-bootable inwrface card 
liable miertece card. . 




Plus System Hardcards 
20-MB Hardcard.(hmda*ign . .S666 
40^6 Herdcard, ilim A tail 





PURE POWER PLUS ^ 
Power - 6 outletm/iwliche* plut 
matter tanich. Built in tp4ie A (urge 
protection. EMI/RFI filtration natic 
cllectwrvaA (wvafbaee. . . 5a'la$g9 
SB 22 - above plut «oK/emp lndic«to« 

. 4149 

22 - above plw* modem turge pro- 
4159 



UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY 

Irwtant battwy backup fmam otiirdt aoaimi blackout hrmvnoui ■ 
in>lt*9* tuign Uath u^j lima :> 

Buih in ipikt/iurga protection ana EMI/RFI tiltraiton. Compact daiign. 

400-watt S350 250watt $225 



All goods are brand new and guaranteed. All advertised prices already include a 2% cash discount for full payment by cashier's check, money order or cash. Personal or company checks must clear 3 weeks before we 
ship. Add 2% for credit card purchases. COO's are accepted for UPS shipmertti only and require 20% paid deposit and $3 COD fee. No COD's to Canada, Puerto Rico, FPO/APO or P.O. Boxes. Shipping & insurance 
chargai by UPS Ground: S5 (card/modem/drive/software). $10 {monitor/printer), $15 (computer/plotter), $25 {laser printer/UPS/copier). UPS Blue: 3X Ground. uPS Red: 4X Ground. PC's accepted from 
government agencies. Fortune 1000 firms and major institutions. Calif, buyers add sales tax. ^ Prices subject to quantity available, correction or change without notice. You may call for the latest prices. 



EASTERN ENTERPRISES, INC. 

Mass Merchandising Since 1969 
6001 BANDINI BLVD., LOS ANGELES, OA 90040 



s ,orE'.-/^N^^. (800)392-7081 

^ Calif., Alaska & allinfo Call (213) 725-3080 



IBM PC. XT. AT are regittered irademerka < 



lOtial Duunni Mach inai Corp. 



SEPTEMBK31, 1987 9f 



INFCWORLD 



$449 

Seagate 40MB tiard Drive 



The Kelleco Seal Of Approval^ 

Reliability 
Quality 
Price 

Compatibility 

You can spend months evaluating 
the growing array of Mass Storage 
Equipment ^^1^^ available 
for the ffiMPC, 

XT, AT 
^ and Com- 

/j^'S patibles, or 
you can order 
$827 ^^^^ people 

Ever» Excel Slream 60 Tape B>ckup WhO alrCady haVei 

Kelleco Technologies. By devot- 
ing our full attention to 
becoming experts on 
the best Tape Backup, 
Data Storage and com- 
munication products 

available, we've 
picked a limited 
selection of equip- 
ment that have proven to be 
highly reliable . 




$995 



Kelleco 286 8 MHz AT System 



Kelleco 286 AT Systems 




Kelleco 8 MHz Basic System $995 

Kelleco 8 MHz 20MB System $1295 

Kelleco 10 MHz Basic System New Low Price 

Kelleco 10 MHz 20MB System $1349 

Kelleco 10 MHz 30MB System $1495 

Kelleco 10 MHz 40MB System $1549 

Kelleco 10 MHz "ZERO WAIT STATE" System.. ..$Call 



Basic System Includes: 1 .2MB floppy drive. Dual floppy/hard disk card, 
195 wan power supply, AT slyle keyboard. Clock calendar, 512K Memory, 
Serial/parallel port. Full manual. One year warranty, 30 day money back. 

Hard Disk Enhancements 




Seagate 20MB XT Kit 


$299 


Seagate 30MB XT Kit 


$339 


UniCard 40MB Hard Disk Card XT only 


$595 


Seagate 30MB 4038 AT Kit 


$429 



$95 

I-vcrtom 1200 & 2400 Modem 



Each Hard Disk Enlianccmcnt Includes: Controller for the XT, Cables, 
Software, installation manual, AT rails for AT kits, One year warranty. 

Streaming Tape Backup 



$105 



Avitex 1200 & 2400 




Everex 60MB Internal Tape Backup $Gall 

Everex 60MB 60-8 Archive Tape Backup $675 

Irwin 20MB Internal Tape Backup $339 

Irwin 40MB Internal Tape Backup $439 



$399 

Unitck UniCanl 20 & 40 



Tape Systems Includes: Software, Controller, Manuals & a 1 year warranty. 

Other Fine Enhancements 



Hercules compatible graphics card w/parallel port. ..$89 

Everex EGA for the PC, XT or AT $1 79 

Avatex 2400 baud External 100% Hayes compat..$249 
Everex 2400 baud Internal 100% Hayes compat... $189 



TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED 

Kelleco Technologies Incorporated 644 Executive Dr. WillowBrook IL. 60521 1-(312) 887-0330 
For easy ordering we accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex and CCD. Corporate PCs are welcome. Call today! 



94 SEPTEMKIll, 1987 



aterial 



INFOWORLO 



teleshopper 



PC-XT COMPATIBLE PC AT COMPATIBLE 




CAT 8MHZ 

BASE SYSTEM 

• 256K (Optional 640K) 
• 150 Watt Power Supply 

• AT Style Keyboard 

• 4.77 or 8 MHZ 
Keyboard Selectable 

• FDC W/360K Floppy 

• 8087 Socket 



OPTION A 
Base Systein Plus 

Anriief Mono Monitor 
Graphics Cornpatible 

Mono Cjrd 
PariKd Printer Port 

$537 00 



OPTION B 
Base System Plus 

Color RGt Monitor 
Grajititcs Compatible 

Color Card 
Parallel Printer Port 



OPTION C 
Base System Plus 
Amfeer Mono Monitor 
Graphics Compitlble 

Morto Card 
Parallel Printer Port 
20Me« Hard Drive 



$72800 $82900 



$389°° 



4.77 or 8 Mlu 




CAT 286-10 

BASE SYSTEM 



• 64GK (120 NS) 
• 200 Watt Power Supply 
• AT Style Keyboard 

• Western Digital Controller 

• Teac 1.2 Meg Floppy 

• Legal Bios w/manuals 

• Systems Documentation 

• 1 Year Warranty 

• Clock Calendar 



OPTION A 

Base Systein Plus 
Amlier Mono Monitor 
Graphics Conpatible 

Mono Card 
Parallel Printer Port 
30Me9 40Met 

M585 '1722 



OPTION B 

Base System Plus 

Color RG< Monltat 
Graphics ConvatlMe 

Color Card 
Parallel Primer Poet 
30Me) «l)Mcg 

M781 »1931 



OPTION C 
Base System Plus 

H* NHtS MoiMtw 
Efi* latsriM* Care 

lOMtf eOMtf 

<2043 <2188 



$99900 



BMlD or lOMkz 



AH W Sytttffls come with 1 year Parts & Labor Warranty 

Ail CAT Sytteffls are FCC Class B Approved 

All CAT Systems have a 30 Day Money Back Compatibility Guarantee 



101 Kfed. Enhancmnit . 29" 

lOMhz Add 50" 

MSOOS 3.21 89" 



SYSTEM UPGRADES 

384K Mamoiy UpfrMlt 
512K AT Mtm. Upradt 7<** 
3I0K Drive B9» lOCaid. 



EitMM 2 Tlnr 



HARDDRIVE 

• ST225 - 20 Meg 

• Western Digital Controller 

• W/cables & 1 Yr. Warranty 



$309°° 



CITIZEN- 



Panasonic 



TAPE BACKUPS 

40Meg ^ags"" 

60Meg w/Controller 

Software ... ^SSS"" 

Add 150»o for External 



120D or 10801 

• 120CPS 

• 80 Col 

• Built In Tractors 



$13900 



ATASI 

3046 HARDDRIVE 
• 40Meg 
• 33 Mil. Sec. 
• Manuals & Rails Incl. 

$389°° 

Partioning Software ^V* 



CTX MONITOR 
EGA 

• 640 X 350 

• 14" Non-Glare Screen 
Green/Amber Text Switch 



I $39900 

RGB Color Monitor. . . 



M'n nno1h««r 

zu<:kiei?ijc'^i?i3 

I2OOZ MODEM 

• Half Card 
Auto Switch 300 or 1200 
• Hayes Compatible 
• PC Talk III Software 



$7900 



TOSHIBA 

3V2 DISK DRIVE 
• 720K 
• W/Mounting 

$12900 

Requires DOS 3.21 . . . 89W 



150 WATT 
POWER SUPPLY 

IBM Direct Replacennent 
• UL Approved 



$5900 



intel 

CO PROCESSORS 

8087-3 5Mhz 109" 

8087-2 8Mhz 140" 

80287-6 6Mhz 

80287-8 8Mhz 24>** 

80287-10 lOMhz 2H»» 

80387 <M" 

CALL for Above Board Pricing 



Micro Accounting 
Software Liquidation 

• General Ledger 
• Accts. Receivable 

• Accts. Payable 

• Check Register 

^^i^f $19500 

Toll Free Tech Line Support 



IVIOOEIVI (Hayes Comp.) 

EV 1200 Baud Int . , . 'BS"" 

2400 199°° 

2400 External 259o« 

Above Boards 



AT Expanded Memory 
0 - 2 Meg 



11900 



(©'Seagate 

HARDDRIVES 

30Meg ST238 

w/wd Cont. . . . 349"* 

40Meg ST251 

w/Software . . . 449"'' 



ALL TRADEMARKS ARE REGISTEREO 
wtth their respective companies 

800-654-7762 

SALES 
7AM— 6PM PST 

702-294-0204 

Customer Service • Order Status 
SAM— 4PM PST 




1000 Nevada Highway • Unit 101 
Boulder City, Nevada 89005 



NO SURCHARGE FOR MC/VISA 

TERMS: 
MC • VISA • COO • CASK 
Purcliase Onlers from QualKlod Firms 
Personal Checks • AE add ^*h 



SHIPPING: 
UPS • Federal Express 



SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 95 



PC TELESHOPPER 



INFOWORLD 




THE 
BEST 
DISK 
■I THE 
COUNTRY NOW 
COMES IN COLOR 

If you think of generics as the lowest 
quality on the market, think again!!! We 
went looking for the disk manufacturer 
who made the best disk In the USA. They 
have been producing the disk we label 
#GD2 for almost a year. It's certified 
error free at a stunning 75% above 
industry standards and has a heavy- 
duty 10 mil jacket. That jacket is now 
available in six colors; red, light or dark 
blue, grey, green, and maroon. There is 
no charge for the color but we do ask 
that orders for mixed colors have at 
least two boxes of a color. Naturally, 
they come with tyvek sleeves, labels 
and write protect tabs. They are factory 
sealed in boxes of ten. 

ORDER DISK #GD2 59$ EACH 

Shipping S3 per hundred or part. APO, FPO, AK. HI. or PR add $6 more. Visa or MasterCard orders under $50 
ad S2. Orders under $30 add S3 service charge. Money orders, cashiers checl<5. and personal checlts earrr a 2% 
discount, but personal or company checks may delay shipment up to 14 days for clearance. New Jersey residents 
add 6% sales lax . We ship COD cash or certified check only for a S3 charge. Ouantity discounts of 1%/300, 2%/50tt 
4%/1.000 Larger quanliliescall. 




P.O. Box 249 
1 1 0.«aff e Road 
Rockawiu'. N.J. 07866 



COMPUTER SUPPLIES 



(201)627-9472 
(800) 367-2897 



PC Teleshopper... 

reaches more than 140,000 
PC professionals every week. 



For more information call 

Jo-Ann Sturtridge at 
415/328-4602, 800/227-8365 
or, in California, 800/344-4636. 




Direct access 

to PC professionals. 

Over 140,000 strictly qualified 
volume buyers rely on InfoWorld 
as their source for making 
purchase decisions. Now you can 
reach these decision makers in the 
pages of PC Teleshopper. Where 
advertisers report increased sales 
as a result of advertising here. 

Call today to capture your share of 
the PC Teleshopper market. 



IIMFO 



WORLD 



THE 



EPSON 

CONNECTION 



Orders processecJ same day! Full one year factory warranty! 



Model 



Price Model 



Price 



LX800 M89 LQ800 »369 

FX86e Call LQ850 NEW 

FX286e Call LQ1000 '499 

EX800 Discounted LQ1050 NEW 

EX1000 Call LQ2500 Special 




r 



OigCMTA 

192 Plus 



EPSON LX800 



189 



• New ISO cps draff speedl 
Improved SelecfType font contral 
Ptn feed tractor included 



"299 

193 Plus •429 

292 w/module »479 

293 w/module "579 

294 w/module »879 

393 w/module "995 

393 Color w/module '1049 

Call P.C. Pitstop toll free at: 

pcfpjrts^ 1-800-852-2888 



Send check, money order or P.O. to: P.C. Pttslop, 45F W Loin Si, Mpfa, MN 55<16 



M SEnEMin21, 1987 



INF^WORLD 



FINALLY! 



EASYFLOW 

An on-screen flowchart processor that knows about flowctiarts ■ not just 
ft another ' 'screen draw ' ' program that makes you do most of the work. 
EasyFlowIs a powerful full-screen graphics program dedicated to flowcharts 
and organization charts. With it you can quickly compose charts. More 
important, you can easily modify charts so they are always up to date. 

Automatic: Fully automatic text centering within shapes, both horizontally and 

vertically. Fully automatic line routing & re-rouling. 

Fast: Written in assembly language for speed. 

Large: Charts up to 417 columns wide by 225 lines high. Chart too large for your 
printer? £4svf(ow automatically breaks the chart up & prints it in page size pieces. 
Standard: All standard flowcharting shapes included. Custom shapes can be ordered. 
User friendly: Don t take our word lor it, PC Magazine* says "f/isyf/.mv lives 
up to its name. It's hard to imagine any easier and more flexible way to produce 
basic and even complex flowcharts " 
Mouse: Optional but fully supported, 
^ It prints: On most popular matrix printers including IBM. Epson, Toshiba. HP 
LaserJet. LaserJet-Plus and many others 

II plots: On HP7440, 7475, 7550, 7570, 7585B and compatible plotters. 
It works: We are contractually prevented from mentioning the name of the "big 
eight" accounting firm that purchased a world-wide site license, but we can tell 
you that they spent months evaluating all available flowcharting packages before 
choosing EasyFlow 

>■ Rush delivery: Order by noon today (eastern time) and we II have it to you by 
courier tomorrow" Rush delivery charge is $15.00 (instead of $2.00) and is 
available only in USA & Canada. 

Documented: 100 page manual plus over 150 screens of context sensitive help 
f>isyftow works on IBM PC's. IBM PS/2 and compatibles. Requires 384 K memory, 
DOS 2,0 or higher and an IBM CGA/EGAA/GA or Hercules monochrome compatible 
adapter card. 

Order direct for only $149.95 -h S2.00 S&H (USA/Canada), $10 00 (foreign). Payment 
by M O,, cheque, VISA, Mastercard or Company PC 

• Matcfi 10 1987 issue OdQc 278 
Rusn mtti ate sriippefl Dy Purtfaiot Counei anfl normally attive Ine next Dusiness day lo mosi locations 



Remote deslinalion^ lake longer 



Mall room 




sends to 




central f 1 les 




by 9am 





Unit B 




Log Coi^plalnt 



In addition to logging 
the complaint i the search 
unit copies the complaint 
for managers as uell- 



The Chart fragment above was produced on an HP LaserJet-Plus and is actual size and 
unretouched Publication quality charts like this can be produced using only minutes of preparation 
lime and seconds of print lime 



HavenTree Software Limited Order Desk: 
PO Box 1093-L Information: 
Ttiousand Island Park. NY 13692 Telefax(G3): 



1-800-267-0668 
(613) 544-6035 exi 27 
(613) 544-9632 



• • • PC Teleshopper 

reaches 
over 

PC professional 
each week. 



INFO 5. 
WORLD 





PC Teleshopper 

Coming in October... 
386 

Compatibles 

Reserve your space now. 
Close is October 21. 



Call Jo-Ann Sturtridge at 

800/277-8365. 

In California,800/344-4636 




TOSHIBA 
DATAVUE 



LAPTOPS 

FROM 

$799 

Call for our "Rep" near you for a hands on demo 



ZEMTH 181 

NEC 
MULTISPEED 



LEADING EDGE 
PC's from $599 "AT'"s from $899 

w/20 mb H-drive add $289 Complele systems w/60mb rrom $1^99 



300/1200 MODEM 

$49.00* 

Internal made in USA 



Big Name 

PC/XT 
KEYBOARDS 

$24.99* 



Buv in quantity and save 

MS-DOS 3.1 

$24.95* 



Big Name 
SERIAL CARDS 

Com 1 or 2 

$12.99* 



TWIN 

$19.95* 

The generic 1-2-3 



100 MB 

TAPE BACKUP 

$249.00 

Uses your VHS/BETA 



PC SYSTEMS 

A 10 million $ D & B rated Co. 
ORDERS 3705 Shares Place #6 ' '•"V M/B guarantee 

305-863-8446 Wfesl Palm Beach. FL 33404 "5 day return privUege 

FAX 305-848-7909 '"^'^'^ 



restocking fee. 

VARS call our BBS at 305-747-8329 1200 baud 



•Qty. 3 



SEPIEMBER2I, 1987 97 



INFOWORLD 




PUTER HU 



PERSONAL 

SYSTEM/2 

CALL 

camPAa* 

CALL 

























MODEMS 



MONITORS 



EPSON 

Equity Computers 
sue Muliispeed 
TOSHIBA Lap-tops 




fflHayes 

1200 exi / 1200B w/sw 
2400 ext / 2400B w/sw 



$299 
$449 



IN STORE ONLY 
CALL 
CALL 



DISKS/TAPE BACKUPS 



MAYNARO ELECTRONICS 

MaynStream tape backups 

PLUS DEVELOPMENT 

Plus Hardcard 20M - 
Plus Hardcard 40M 



CALL 



$599 
$939 



1 PRINTERS 1 


brother 

HR-20 $359 


HR-40 


$619 


EPSON 

EX-800 
FX-86E 
LO-80O 
LO-850 


$439 
$349 
$399 
$549 


EX-1000 
FX286E 
LO-1000 . 
LO-1050 


CALL 
$499 

CALL 
$739 




HEWLETT PACKARD 
IN STORE ONLY 





AMOEK 410 Series $165 
PGS 

MAX-12E $145 HX12E $489 
ULTRA SYNC , CALL 
^/■f."C Multisyrx; $565 
SONY Mulliscan (in store) CALL 




SOFTWARE 



I^Wm, MOUNTAIN CALL 



SEAGATE 

ST225 20M w/WDC Com . 
ST238 30M wWDC RLL Cont. 
S7251 40M (AT) 39ms 



$329 
$369 
$475 



ADD-ON BOARDS 







SixPak Premium 256K 


$209 


Advantage Premium 512K 


$449 


Cica IRMA 2 t»ard . 


$729 


HERCULES 




Graphics Card Plus 


$189 


In Color Card- 


$299 


INTEL 




ABOVE board 286 512K 


$339 


ABOVE board PS 286 512K 


$369 


inboard 386/AT (req inst kit) 


$1299 


Inboard installation kit . . . 


$139 


8087 $115 8087-10 


$219 


80287-6 $195 802878 


$249 


8028710 $299 80387(16MHz) 


$499 


PARADISE 




Auloswitch EGA 350 


$219 


Auioswitch EGA 480 


$275 


QUADRAM 




EGA-i- $295 Prosync - 


$309 


VIDEO 7 Mega delux 


$299 



Propnnter II $389 Proprinter XL $569 
Pro X24 $599 Pro XL24 $739 
Ouietwriler III $1199 

OKIDATA 

182. 192, 193. 292. 293. 294BEST PRICES 

SEC printers CALL 
TOSHIBA 

P321 SL $519 P351-2 $935 

I INPUT DEVICES | 

MOUSE SYSTEMS 

PC Ser Mouse w/Pop-uo 
PC Bus Mouse w/Pop up 

MICROSOFT* 

Bus Mouse/Ser Mouse 



$105 
$109 



. $119/$129 




WORDPROCESSING 

IBM Displaywnte 4 $299 
LOTUS Manuscnpt $339 
Mullimale CALL 
Wordstar Prof Rel 4 $249 
Wordstar 2000 + Rel 2 $225 
WordPerfect $229 MS Word CALL 
DATABASE / INTEGRATED 
dBase \\\* CALL RapidFile $249 
Framework II CALL Paradox 2 0 $439 
Lotus 1-2-3 , $319 Symphony . $459 

Lotus Reportwnter$109 Hal $109 

Innovative Smart System $489 
RBASE System V $419 
Symantec O&A $209 

Rbase System V $349 

Multiplan . . . $119 VP Planner . $59 
Migent Ability * . $119 Cornerstone $59 

PFS First Choice $109 

Data Ease $429 

BUSINESS /GRAPHICS 
MS Proiecl 40 $299 Chan $249 
Ashlon Tate Presentation Gr Pk $419 
Harvard Total Project Mgr II $359 
Harvard Presentation Graphics $239 

Freelance Plus $329 

One Write Plus $169 



SPECIALS 




UTILITIES /COMPILERS 

Borland 

MS Macro Assemtitet . . 


CALL 
$99 


PLUS DEVELOPMENT 


MS C Compiler 


$269 


Hardcard 20 Meg 


$589 


MS Fortran Compiler 


$279 


Hardcard 40 Meg 


$895 


Nantucket Clipper 
Fasltjack 


$399 
$95 


PARADISE 




OTHER 






$265 


IBM DOS 3 3 


$95 



ANY PRODUCT NOT 
LISTED? CALL 



Prodesign II 



$179 



EAST COAST 



AND LOTS MORE 



MID-WEST 



COMPUTER HUT 

OF NEW ENGLAND INC 
101 Elm St Nashua, NH 03060 



COMPUTER HUT COMPUTER HUT^o 



OF NEW ENGLAND INC 
129 Mirona Rd Portsmouth, NH 03801 



521 S Hunler 
Wichita, Kansas 67207 



(603) 889-Te2S (6031 431-3626 (316) 681-2111 

Orders Only - (800) 525 5012 Orders Only - (800) 572 3333 

All products uSuallv in stock lor sam« day shipment and catry fult manufacturers' warranty Prices subfect to charge — ihis atj preparM 1v>o months in advanca Wa horm p«r- 
tonaJ chacks — allow 20 days to cMat COO max $600 Visa. MasterCard add 2Mi ^-o' snipping & insurance add 2^ or S60O mm lot small items arid S14 mm lor monitors, 
primers. «tc We accept PO'» from Fortune looo Companies All prices reflect cash discount for mall orders only. In store prices higher by at least SH. 

IBM la a trwiwwrt of IBM Corp. Return authorization artd order status call Information line 987 




PC Teleshopper 



One phone call goes a long way. 
Call today to place your ad in today's 
most well respected mail order catalog 
Call 415/328-4602, 800/227-8365. 
In California, 800/344-4636. 




INFO 



WORLD 

THE Nfr'.-.S WEEKLY 









98 SEPTEMBERS!, 1987 



aterlal 



PC TELESHOPPER 




CCS Designer "3.0 

The Complete CAD System for Only $79^^ 




A truly COMPLETE Computer Aided Design program that includes everything you need to create professional quality designs quickly and easily. 
Use CCS Designer for architectual designs, business graphics. How charts, orgainzalional charts, interior designs, floor plans, mechancial designs, 
lartd scaping and schematics. 

And we don't think you should have to pay extra to plot to a dot matrix printer and auto-dimension with your CAD syslerrv— that's why ONE LOW 
PRICE includes these features and many more: 



New Version: 50% more drawing space • 12 new features • B087 math coprocessor 
supporl - more printers, plotters, graphic cards and laser printers supported • 
improved color display • line thickness control • point XY commands • repeat 
section • gravity move and more. 

rx.«« Li:. ^ 

■ Enlarge, rotate, zoom-in. paint, fill in ar>d undo drawings \^%^^& 1 I 

• Retrieve your symtjcfs at any size, angle or location, >flB^*l 1— =f- 

• Adjustable grid and snap gravity point ^ 

• Choose from multiple character sets- 

• Clearty written manual & on-line help. 

• AutoCAD compatibility available 

• Create your own symbol libraries, 

• Mouse supported but not required. 

• 16 color high resolution output. 

• Aulo dimensioning and scaling. 

• Single keystroke commands 

• Supports 1 80 printers. 52 input 

devices and 77 plotters 

• Supports IBM CGA, EGA. 
AT&T, Hercules, Persyst, 
Photon, Sigma, Tandy, 
Techmar. Toshiba. Tseng. 
Video 7. Wyse and 3270 
display cards. 




SYMBOL UBRARY 

A collectKxi of useful symbols to 
take full actvanlage of ihe power 
of CCS Desigr>e( includes 
ptumbing. electronic, and 
eteclrtcal symbols and designs. 

$29.95 



Convert To AutoCAD 

New CCS DXF utihly allows 
you to convert your CCS 
Designer drawir^gs to and Irom 
AuloCAO. 

$39.95 



This shuttle design was created with CCS Designer 



For PC/XT/AT or compatible with 
512K&DOS2,0 or later. 



"My coworkers and I have used CCS Designer for over a year lo produce system concept design 
graphics on both a PC and an AT compatible. It has proven easy lo learn and use. It's excellent for 
both professional and fast graphic needs." — M.W, Hulse, System Knginecr at Lockheed 



Logimouse® C7 Plusr-^Qga 

An ultra -responsive, high resolution, opto- \ ^ 
mechanical mouse for the PC; ideal tor CAD. 1 
paint and Desktop Publishing applications. 

• High resolution: 200 dots per inch (or precise control 

• High baud rale: Programmable to 9600 t^aud 

• Opto mechanical: Requires no special gfids or pads 
■ Low power consumption: practically runs on thin air! 

• No external power supply required | authorize d — 

• PC Magazine Editor's Choice! ^^^^^^^^m 

• Microsoft compatiWe | otsTWBUTOR | 



COMES WITH PLUS PACK SOFTWARE: allows any 
program to take advantage of the mouse' 

Now available for PS/2; specify when ordenng. 

BUS v«riion comm with Interfac* c»rd; add $10 



Buy a Combination and Save! 



Get Logimouse C7 with these best selling software 



packages tor extra savings; 



CCS Designer: $15995 

PC Paintbrush: $11995 

Publisher:' $149^5 

Dr. Halo II: $139^5 



BEST BUY: 

Loginnouse with 
CCS Designer and 
PC Paintbrush: SITS^s 



•OEM version of PFS s enhanced FirM Publisher software. 



Floppy Disk 
Cabinet 



Soltd 3 drawer cabinet holds 
over 200 floppy disks or 59 
Compact disks Keeps your 
valuable diskettes secure and 
dust-free. 

Sturdy wood construction 
with fine finish and lock for 
security. 

SPECIAL 

reg. $40 




CCS Time™ siotiessPcciocK 

An innovative new approach for keeping time on your IBM PC/XT/AT 
or compatible. CCS Time keeps track of time. day. date and year and is accurate within 
15 seconds per month. 

CCS Time's 10 year power supply keeps track of time even when your computer's 
power is turned oft. Easily installed in any EPROM socket: doesn't take up a slot! ^ 

5 YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY, 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE <S9.9S 



COMPLETE COMPUTER SERVICES. INC. 
849 Mitten Rd #24 • Burlingame, CA 94010 
(800) 346-4227 • (415) 692-7250 (in CA) 




30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARAffTEE 

CA res aOd sales tax. Actd 5% (w shipping and nandling. mtnKnum charga $5. AK S HI 
*dd $4, APO and Inil tydarsadd $15. COD orders add $2. COO (yders over $100 must 
be paKl with cash or mooeyorder AH rvtums rnusi have a relum aulhortf at>on number 
and be in neux condrbon 1S% restocfcjng Fee on aJi returns. At) trademarks acfcnowted^ed 



PC Teleshopper 

is dedicated to meeting the needs 
of direct-mail advertisers. 

Bottom line is 

increased sales at a lower cost. 



Call Jo-Ann Sturtridge at 
800/227-8365. 
In California, 
call 800/344-4636. 

INFO 



WORLD 




-I — . ■ . . . -w-s • . • - 



\'X«X'**^>.'">.*"X\X«.'">;«;">;.>>.»>,«.»,«,«.«,«,«,»,«,.,.,.^.^._,^>^^. 



iPliPPPPiiM 



KPTEMBER 21, IM7 99 erinl 



•=«^WORLD 




Use EasyLAN to Bridge the 

I EasiiLVi Version 2.5, the "Network in a Box," has 
I everything you need to bridge the gap between 
I PCs, laptops and IBM's new PS/2 System. 

By connecting a universal cable to each sys- 
I tern's serial port, you can move flies and programs 
' between your 

PCudPS^ POATud PC/AT 

AT and PS/2 PS/2 and P$/2 

PC and laptop Laptop and laptop 

AT and Uptop PS/2 and laptop 

EasyLAN 2.5 software on SW-inch and 3'/i-inch 
diskettes supports disk to disk file and program 
. transfers in (he background, while on-screen 
appltcations such as word processing run 
I concurrently on either machine. 

I Exclusive Features: 

■ Single command copies text and program files 
I in the foreground or background. 

■ Share your PC's existing serial and parallel 
printers across the network. 

■ Move files and programs in both directions. 

■ No need to purchase expenshv 3'/; inch disk 
drives, controllers, and one-w^ "data-migratKn" 
kits. 

■ Pull LAN capability lets you implement 
j DOS-equivalent commands across the network. 

Price: $199.95 

Arailable immediately. 
Order Now — Call Uill fre« from US or Canada: 

800/835-1515 or 800/232-7729 

Serv er , 140Kifer( ourl,Sunn)'vale,CA94086,USA(408l 738-8377 




LETS CLEAR UP THE CONFUSION 



Over 26,000 
EasnLMIa InsUUed 




THE ANSWER: 



Rapid Software and the PICK® Operating System 
Mainframe Power at a PC Price '" 



PICK'" MULTI-USER 
PC SYSTEMS 
Expandable - Upgradeable 

3-UserAT $ 795.00 

lO-UserAT 1295.00 
10-User 386 1495.00 
17-User 386 2195.00 



MORE THAN JUST A 

Disk Operating SYSitM' 
Packed With Features 

DOS Converter 
Relational Database 
Report Generator 
Macro Builder 



(800) 443-8231 



In California (714) 240-0407 
Dealer Inquiries Invited 

NOQJPIOI s 1 ReiBMnil IM Qf Auusill r nt 



PICKWARE'^ MULTIUSER 
SOFTWARE PROGRAMS 
Buy Them Only Once! 

FREE! 'IheWoilis WordProc. $395.00 
FREE! Compusheel+ S|iieadslieel495.00 
FREE! AccuPlot Graphics 395.00 
FREE! Mainlink Communications 395.00 

RAPID SOFTWARE SYSTEMS 

34163 Coast Hwy. #DW-3S 
Dana Point, CA 92629 



COMFHJSHf ( 1 + li J Rejtsfewd IM ol Waxtm Srstwns 
HiUNUNK 6 1 RegrUeM lU 01 M«rulicam rediKAves • : Conn|M 19S7 RapKl Sottnte SfitCRB 




It's our 
policy to bring 
you the Best 
Deals at the 
Lowest Prices... 
»o keep cosfs 
Ihe lowest... 

PHONE 
ORDERS 
ONLY! 

We Know you'll 
like our dealsl 
WHILE 
SUPPLY 
LASTS 



'4 LIQUIDATOR I 

the^ ^1*4 CALIFORNIA SINCE 1976jJyJ 




»i9a 



LIQUIDATION SPECIAL! 

Sharp PC 5000 



HARDWARE 


LIST 


SALE 


PC5000 

Include P.aw 
HS-OOS GW Bai.< 

• (TtSHP OM 


V P.!Lk 

•1995 


>199 


PRMTEH CE5o> 

• ■fiiMPoes 


■39S 


»95 


MOOEm aw 

ttnSHP DOS 


■349 


'85 


ACCESSORIES 


LIST 


SALE 


64K RAM EXP. 

C*rlr.rt9t CF VDU 
• If 1SHP 007 


'80 


'40 


128K BUBBLE 


'130 


'119 


SOFTWARE 


LIST 


SALE 


PFS FlU/REPORT 

SiVi^ an (•iskl'l:''- -nsv ti» CDC'pd 7 B 
• ■F1SHP004 '12S 


"165 


SUPER-COMM 

• ari&HP 0010 


^Lvva ID ' BjDDIt _ 

•80 '40 



Got inio laptop computing at an 
unhea'd-o' low price 100% 
top-qualily functional fantastic 
tor word proccMtng af>tJ PC 
modefn cornmunication great 
tor working of^ IHe 90' 
FULL FACTORY WARRANTY, 
NO EXTRA COST' 

BUNDLE A* 

KSem. 128K RAM, MS-DOS. 
GW Basic. Battery Pacli. 
Printer. 2 B<jbt>les 



'369 



LIST 
■124S.00 

BUNDLE B* 

PC5000. 128K RAM. MS-DOS. 
GW Basic. Battery Pacli. 
Printer. 2 Bubbles 



'399 



LIST 
■1410.00 

BUNDLE C* 

PC5000. 129( RAM. MS-DOS, 
GW Basic. Battery Pack. 
Printer. 2 Bubbles. Modem 



Bundit Includ* tofhnn 
alrewiy ln»tmll»d on bubbtm 



LIST 
'1715.00 



'449 




AST* 

AST ^ Upgrades lor AT/Compatlbles 
AT/Munifunct)on Expantlon Advantage AT with extra 
t/0 plus Software Bonus Package. OK . . SALE $129.95 

• I S Mb. retail J104S 95 SALE S3C9 

• 30lulb. retail S1745 95 SALE S499. 

RAMPAOE AT Memory Enpsnslon Bomrd 
with Ef^S and OESQview Software Bonus Paclrage 

• 0 0 Mb. retail $595 95 SALE W19. 

• 512 Kb. retail $695 95 SALE $299. 

• 2 0 Mb, retail $1495 95 - SALE S499. 

Emulex PERSYST' lor AT/Compatlbles 
AT/Compalible Video Upgrade Board 
Multifunction, I '0, 128K plus EMS expandable, 

• Mono, sug list S299 95 SALE $149. 

• CGA. sug, $299,95 SALE $159. 

Emulex PERSYST' lor XT/Compatibles 
XT/CompatlNe Upgrades 

Mono or Color .'Combo Cards, Oto 384K. software lor 
RAMdisk. print spooling, 2yr warranty 

• OK. sug list $159 95 SALE $9995 

SB-111 IMullllucllan plus Oto 1Mb 

Extra I/O, multilunction, software , 

• OK, sug list $249 95 SALE $11995 

EQA-8 MutllfucUon plus Graphics 

EGA. most CGA MDA, software, llghtpen support 

• EGA, sug list S399 95 SALE $9995 

PARADISE^ Color/MotK Card 

Short card lor IBM« Mono/CGA. 100% compatible, port. 

use with other video. Reg $245 95 SALE $99.95 

QUAORAM^ PC/XT/Compatible Upgrades 
QUAD SPRINT aS 5000 Acceleralar 

lOMHz 8086*HAM cache butler lor 
170-240<Hi'speed-up 

• OS . 5000. sug retail $345 00 SALE $149.00 

LIBERTY* MG 0000 

Memory to 2Mb. software, fully compatible 

• MG 0000. sug, retail $300,00 SALE $129.00 

• with 512K (256K chips) SALE $199.00 

• with 2Mb, (256K chips) SALE $399.00 

Silver Quadboard SIxpacfc 

Memoryf o 640K. soitware. all Ihe extras, 

• SOB 000, (OK), retail S37O00 SALE $119,00 

• with 384K. I256/64K chips) SALE S1S7.00 

• wilh 640K. (all 256K chips) SALE $197.00 



List $12001 



Super cioseoul deal' Totally autoinalic. auto 
line release. ■nWh plug-in network adaptor & 
acoustic coupler, tine detail mode, worluat 

• copter, loo. Sears World TrtiO« warranty 



SALE 

Data Fax-10 FAX Machines 

BUY 3 or MORE 

M49..A 

Case ol 6 Rolls, Thermal paper, 100 It SALE $39. 

our best PC/XTs! 

Advanced PC 
'■tQQ w/2 Floppies 
%3%9%9m '499. 

Advanced PC 

• 256K (Add $90. lor 640K) 

• (1) 360K disk drives 

• Serial/Parallel 

• RGB/Composite Video 

• Mouse w/software 

• plus more... 



Si 



699. 



A J. m n mn n n ri VT As abOVO. but With 

AOVanCea a I 10Mb tntemal ho 

CAU ABOUT OW DtlUXE PRODUCWffTr 
BUHDII. W/COLOK, MOffE/... A $2295,00, 

muE FOR simm 

R9Comm»nd*d by PC* Magazine - Sept 1986 
This^ear ACP has sold 4700 Advanced PC/XT IBM 
Compatible computers We have 4700 satisfied 
ciislomers who are proud to own the best compatible 
available even from IBM Manufactured by Toshiba 
to Cadillac' standards arxl sold at a Hyundai' pnce 
exclusivety by ACP, We are running out of these umis I 
80 you need to act (asl... only 125 systems left' 




MfmvunmnfmvfumhM.. tm. 



Symantec 



S A 800432-8459 5 800-854-7135 



PHONE YOUR 
ORDER NOW! 



100 SEPIEMBtR 21. 1987 



1l 



INFOWORLD 



m piiwts 
SBBB smei 

Is m foratia for swms. 



COMPUTERS 

IBM 

MODEL 30 call for price 

MODEL 30 w/hard drive . call tor price 

MODEL 50 call tor price 

MODEL 60 ' call! for price 

AT 339 $3327 

COMPAQ 

DP W/256K 2 DRIVES $1299 

DP W/640K 20MB $1650 

DP286 12MHz $2347 

DP286 640K/20M8 $2999 

DP286 640K/40MB $3333 

DP386 40MB/16MH $4895 

DP386 130MB/16MH $6659 

PORT II MODEL IV $2881 

* *NEW PORTABLE III* * 
IN STOCK 

AST 

80/90 $1545/$1935 

120/140 $2300/$2699 

170 $3029 

NEC 

MULTISPEEO 640K $1495 

ACER (Multltech) 

NEW 1100 386/40MB $3523 

900 286/640K/30MB $2095 

700 640K/20MB $1250 

TOSHIBA 

T1100+2 DRIVES/640K $1479 

T3100 1 DRIVE /640K $2700 

XT TURBO SYSTEM 

IBM COMPATIBLE COMPUTER 
150 Wati Power Supply Floppy 
Disl<. 4-8 MHz. Parallel Port 
Ser. Port/Game Port, AT Keyboard 
640K RAM, 8 Slots, 8088-2 
Processor $395 
OUR TURBO HAS A 30 DAY 
SATISFACTION GUARANTEE 

FLOPPY DRIVE 

FUJITSU 360K/1.2 $77/$112 

TEAC 360K/1.2 $97/$129 

TOSHIBA 360K/1.2 $97/$126 

5 'A" EXTERNAL $399 

3V;" INTERNAL $129 

HARD DRIVE 

SEAGATE 

20MB ST225 KIT $319 

30MB ST238 KIT $359 

40MB ST251 KIT $599 

40MB ST4053 $639 

80M8 ST4096/0N TRAC $949 



MINISCRIBE 

40MB 3650 w/CONT $499 

20MB 3425 w/CONT $339 

20MB 8425 3.5 KIT $359 

30MB 8438 3.5 HLL $389 

60MB 6053 5.5 $599 

72MB 6085 5.5 $895 

20MB HARDCARD $439 

30MB HARDCARD $459 

CDC 70MB 28 MLS $995 

TAPE BACKUP 

ALLOY 

20/25MB XT or AT $359 

60MB INT/EXT $739 

CONTROLLER CARD $149 

EVEREX 

EXCEL STREAM 60 $739/$899 

COMPAQ 40MB $599 

EGA GRAPHICS 

ATI EGA WONDER $239 

EVEREX EGA $189 

NEC GB-1 $316 

PARIDISE AUTOSWITCH 

EGA 480 $289 

AUTO EGA 350 $221 

BASIC EGA $165 

OUADRAM PRO SYNC $326 

VIDEO 7 VEGA DELUXE $315 

GENOA SUPER EGA $299/$399 

TECHMAR EGA MASTER $399 

EGA MONITORS 

NEC MULTISYNC $539 

MULTISYNC XL $2194 

SAMSUNG $389 

COMPAC EGA $580 

SONY MULTISCAN $599 

PGS HX12+ $495 

PS2 ULTRASYNC $592 

MITSUBISHI DIAMOND SCAN $549 

TAXAN760 $599 

MONITORS 

AMDEK 410A/G/W $159 

SAMSUNG MONO/COLOR . .$79/$126 

THOMPSON COLOR $299 

MICRO DISPLAY GENIUS $1295 

PGS HX 12E $467 

MAX 15 1500x770 $199 

LM 300 w/LASERVIEW $1325 

CTX 14" COLOR $289 
2 YEAR WARRANTY 

PLOTTERS 

HEWLETT PACKARD 

7440A $1275 

7475A $1550 

DRAFT PRO $4895 



PRINTERS 

CITIZEN 

120D $185 

IBM 

QUIETWRITER III $1269 

NEC 

P6/CP6 $450/$540 

P7/CP7 $615/$699 

P5XL/P9XL $1020/$1140 

OKI DATA 

182/192 + /193+ . . . .$259/$349/$525 
292E/93E $549/$649 

TOSHIBA 

321 SL $519 

341 SL/351 II $749/$979 

351 COLOR $1199 

PANASONIC 

KXP1524 $599 

LASERS 

HEWLEn PACKARD SERIES II 

w/TONER & CABLE $1789 

NEC SILENT WRITER $1630 

PANASONIC LASER $1549 

OKIDATA USER 6 $1599 

TOSHIBA PAGELASER $2395 

AST TURBOLASER $3395 

CARDS 

MULTI I/O 

MONOCHROME GR. w/PP . 
COLOR GRAPHICS w/PP . . 

MAXI MAGIX 0-2MB 

ZUCKER MEMORY 576K ., 
ZUCKER MEMORY w/CL. . 



. $69 
. $69 
..$69 
$129 
..$59 
. $99 



PARIDiSE COLOR/MONO $103 

EVEREX EDGE $195 

AST SIX PACK + $159 

PREMIUM PAK 256K $199 

RAMPAGE PC 256K $257 

RAMPAGE AT 512K $434 

ADVANTAGE PREM $445 

RAMPAGE EGA $745 

CHIPS 

256K 150/120 $30/$35 

64K 150 NANO $12 

386/256K RAM $10 

NEC V20/V30 $20/$25 

8087-3/80287-6 $119/$179 

8087-2/80287-8 $169/$259 

80287-10 $339 

COMPAQ 1MB UPGRADE $349 

SCANNERS 

PGS LS 300 w/OCR SW $1025 

HP SCAN JET+ $1295 

INTERFACE KIT $425 

PANASONIC IMAGE SCANNER $1019 



@pcAmerican 



M'8 care 
aCouJ your „eeds 

J'SII us. 



MODEMS 

EVEREX 1200/2400 $99/199 

US ROBOTICS 

1200/2400 INT $107/$175 

1200/9600 EXT $113/$699 

MIGENT POCKET $165 

INPUT DEVICES 

LOGICTECH B/S $85/$85 

MICROSOFT B/S $119/$129 

MOUSE SYSTEM B/S $109/$129 

MISC. 

PAR. PRINTER CABLE $13 

150 WATT POWER SUPPLY $69 

EN. AT KEYBOARD $69 

PRINTER STAND $30 

SOFTWARE 

ALDUS PAGE MAKER $489 

BROOKLAND BRIDGE $99 

COMPUTER ASSOC call lor price 

COPY II PC $27 

OPTION BOARD $79 

dBASE III PLUS $389 

DAC EASY ACC $54 

DOS 3.2 $79 

DOW JONES MARKET ANALYZER -i- $267 

FLIGHT SIMULATOR $32 

HARVARD TOTAL PM $257 

IBM DISPLYWRITE 3/4 $349 

LOTUS 1-2-3 $309 

FREELANCE PLUS $389 

HAL $115 

MACE UTILITIES $59 

OPEN SYSTEMS ACC call lor price 

MANAGING YOUR MONEY $119 

MANAGING THE MARKET $54 

NORTON UTILITIES $53 

PFS: FIRST CHOICE $94 

PRINT SHOP $39 

PRODESIGN II $169 

Q & A $219 

QUICK BASIC $57 

R:BASE 5000/V $439 

SILK $138 

SYMPHONY 1.2 $438 

TURBO C $59 

WINDOWS $59 

WORDPERFECT 4.2 $215 

WORDSTAR PROF $227 

VENTURA PUBLISHER $489 

VALUE PACK/RETAIL $169 

EASY -t- VP-PLANNER -t- SIDEKICK 

OUR PRICE $98 

Call today and let us 
service your computer needs! 



Marketing, Inc.' 



17191 NtwhoDt St . SulU 104 Founolii vilMy, C« mm 



1-800-654-5365 

IN CALIF. OR FOR TECH SUPPORT 

714-754-1154 



TERMS: Orders shipped same day on all slocked products. All prices relied 
a 2% cash discount We accept Visa. MasterCard. 5% extra on Amex. 
personal checlts. wire transfers, qualified PO'S Only facoty sealed and fully 
warranteed products stocked Prices subject to change without notice. 



$EPnMin 31, I9»7 101 



Hardware 



INFOWORLD 



m 




DATA BANK COMPUTER 



Basic System • No Assembly Needed • One Year Warranty 



m 

m 
m 
ii 
m 

'^mmmmwmmm 



AT Mainboard 

• 12 5/8 or 10/6 MHz speed 80286 Microprocessor 
with 80287 Co-Processor optional 

• 8 I/O slots 6 dual. 2 sir\gle 

• Expandable to 640K or 1024KB 

• CMOS clock calendar with on board battery 
back up 

AT Cabinet with Speed Switch 

• 2 or 3 drive opening option 

• Hardware reset switch 

• 1 5mm thickness 

• Made to FCC requirements 

• With lock and LED indicators 



IBM PC/XT/AT ve tiadernvht ol 

inieinational BulioMS Mai;hinOT Cofpo'slioi 



AT Power Supply 

• 1 1 5/230 VAC user selectable . 

• 220-Watt output rating 

• Soft start 

• Overvoltage and overload protection 

• Over 20ms hold-up time 

• Designed to meet VOE 0806 Standards 

• UL. CSA and FCC Certified 



Certified /FCC Class B 



ROM BIOS 



SAVE BIG at Durable Solutions 



Seagate ST-225 (20MB) PC Kit $274 

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Seagate ST-4038 (30MB) AT Kit $51 9 

WTI 20MB Datacard $31 9 

W7730MB Datacard $349 

WTI 40MB Tape Drive $349 

PC-XT Turbo (40MB & Monitor) $999 

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The Qn-Line Store 
Ventura. CA 



SYSTEM 3 
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286 SYSTEMS 6/820 $1495 



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435 Brannan Si , San Franc sco, CA 94107 



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LOWEST PRICES IN U.S. 

XEROX VENTURA Publisher 
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$479 

40 MB Drive Card For IBM PC/XT 
(28 ms Access Time) 
$525 

ORCHID RAMQUEST 2 MB 
lor PS/2 Mod 50/60 
$699 

80387-16 Math Coprocessor 
$599 



• Same Day Shipping 

• Credit Charge add 3' . 



Computers Midwest, Inc. 
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t 



1 « 1 I '"I I I 



TO STORE YOUR 2400 
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RAINBOW PC 2400 7^ 

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InfoWorld Classified 
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Outside California 
800/227-8365. 
In So. CA, WA, OR, & UT 
call 714/250-1305 or 
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386 MICRONICS' 



"A Compaq Desk Pro 366 On 
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SEPIEMBER 21, 1987 103 



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AST TumoVlsiori JH?9 
AST EW nwnHot Sa79 
Aiidek 1760 a/CXMrd 1459 
AST B4W monitor $1^9 
ANdek 410 risi screen tl59 
ATI £CA HOTKKf $2?9 
veCA Dcluie video 7 ^289 
«C CB.1 J299 
Gefxia Sioer hi. res EGA J3?9 
PsrKflM ABO 12&9 
AST K* EGA CCA WA $199 
EvercM EGA Oeluie $1^9 
QuH]r«a ProSync EW S3 19 

AST Tyrt)OL«ser/EL POSlSCniPi ootSiW 
P«n«K»nic Laser Partner Printer |I259 

fCC P6 aocol printer s*35 

«C P7 iMcol printer 5599 

NEC PXOKL color printer $899 

"CC P960Ja. printer J1CW9 

•CC P2200 eOcol ITOcps HUl »>59 

Pirt*»Onlc 10911 eOcol ISOcpi $199 

P«nasonlc 1592 i>2col leOcos »)99 

Panasonic 1595 iJ?col 24Cicps $4W 

TosMba 321SL $489 

ToshllM M1SL $639 

Toshiba S*1E i^lJe tney laatr $ii9 

ToshiDa n\ Model II $8» 

NEC LCfl» $1495 

Cltifcn Trltxjte 200cp» l36col S6i9 

intsl InBoara 3a6/A' $11^9 

Intvl 803e7>1( $4^9 

Intel 60207-8 $2119 
Fujitsu 256K icons chips (9; $*□ 
Fujitsu 256K 12&'S c*.i:it £9) 129 

AST MrtSnot/286 $)J9 

■ST Slipah Plirt 64M $109 



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Ventura iXOllsner 

ifisse III* 

Paiaooi 

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Desqvlra 

Crosstalk 

KlcroSort Mara 3, 11 
MlcroSoTi c Coroller 
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CEM Desktop Publisher 
flJ^it Sli^jlator 
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MtrtlScrlbe 605) awifl jftnsec 
MlnlScrlbe 6085 72* 2aT.sec 
Seagate 3TZ25 TOnfi 65«isec 
Seagate ST2S1 aa« 39>Dsec 
Hantor «Ti1M 112« 27n«sec 
t*a*tor inj280 2hue JOtsec 
"InlScrlDe ScrlbeCard 30* 
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Mountain qmaO 5.25 tape t>t>«/AT 



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in 
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ASTTkrboLaser"' 



rr-ln taoe n: 
Irwin 2yie tape 

AST FistBat 513H 
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Mlcroio't House Bus 
PC Mouse serial xtlcal 
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AST Premium/286 

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Two 32-Bit, Four I6-Bii& 

Two 8-Bil Hxpansion Slots 
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Controller 
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Hnhanccd Keyboard & User 

Manual 
t Year Warranty 



FREE 

Intel 80287-10 
Math Coprocessor (Daughter card) 




$2,595.00 



I Prices Mibjtvf l<> i hanxr M iihnul notitv 
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DESKTOP PUBLISHING 



VENTURA PUBLISHER 1 1 S499 

w; MOUSE SYSTEMS MOUSE $599 

CANON IX-12 Scanner (W CABLE TO JLASER BOARD) S789 



MEGAMEMORY BOARDS 



EVEREX 

RAM 3000 EMS-AT 3MB $489 

BOCA RESEARCH- 

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BOCARAM AT (2MB) 16MZ S429 

BOCARAM AT (4MB) 16MZ . . S759 



TALL TREE SYSTEMS: 

JRAM-2 2MB $419 

JRAM-3 2MB LIM-EMS $469 

JRAM-AT-3 2MB 120ns $539 

JLASER ^ Stand Alone $299 

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Classified Advertising at 
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In California 800/344-4636. 
Outside California 
800/227-8365. 
In So. CA, WA, OR, & UT 
call 714/250-1305 or 
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FIELD PROVEN MICROPOLIS 
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TAPE BACKUPS 

IRWIN 10MB $258 

IRWIN 20MB $335 

IRWIN 40MB $375 

ARCHIVE INT 60MB .. $525 
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104 SEPTEMBER 21,1987 



INFOWORLD 



HARDWARE 




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word processing systems Files are 
translated (or typesetters 

• DBMS data is restructured (including 
word processors' File and List 
Managers.) Extractions merging, tiller 
ing. field adjustments [spaces and 
blante. add*ons, deletions and unpack- 
ing), sorting, delimiter teptacemenls etc. 

• Spreadilieel data is translated NOT 
tost reports or values but labels cell 
referencing codes and formulas 

m In the translation Induttryl 

AOAPSO member 
CompuData Translators, Inc. 
3325 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 1202 
Los Afigdes CA 90010 213^2^222 

800-825-8251 



InfoWorid Classifieds wofft for you 



DISK AND TAPE CONVERSIONS 

H»gfi qtiality convorswr services & OCR 
scanning for Dedicated Word Processors, 
Mirv & Micro computers Over 1000 V/t'. 
5Wi', and 8' formats, 800-1600BPI tape Con- 
verston between War»g, NBl. CPT, DEC, 
Vydec. Lanier. OS/6. Xerox. LInolex. 
Lexttron. MemoryWriler, EdilWriler, 
CompEdIt, Exxon 500, Exxon Oyx, IBM Sys/ 
34/36/38/5520, MAC, ViclOf. THS, Apple II & 
III. NSTAR, IBM PC,'AT/3V^, HP, & most Oth- 
er Micros Conversion <Srect(y mto word 
processvK) software such as DW3. WP. MS/ 
VmO, WS. Samna, MM, PFS, & many others. 
408-629-1088 

DataFormatB 

INC. 



SEPTEMBERS!, 1987 105 



Classifieds 



INPr Wuk-th-U 



SDflware 



How to Support PC 
users who aren't 
exactly experts 

The HELPME'" utility is an early warning 
system for common problems 

■ more than 300 diagnostic tests for problems involving 
hardv/are and software Installation and performance 

■ on-screen help tor understanding and correcting 
problems 

■ quick identification of system configuration and 
compatibility 

■ support for windows, networl<s and most IBM- 
compatible PCs including the IBM Personal System/2 

■ only $99 plus $3 shipping (California residents add 6% 
sales tax) 

How to make a Ifackup 
that works when 
your hard disk won't 

The BACKPAK* backup utility lets you use 
backup files without restoring them to 
a hard disk 

■ backs up hard disk data to floppy diskettes In standard 
DOS format without encryption 

■ copies only new or modified files for faster operation 
during repeated backups 

■ provides user menus and on-screen help 

■ for the IBM PC, Personal System/2 and most IBM 
compatibles 

■ only $79 plus $3 shipping (California residents add 6% 
sales tax) 

How to get Inside 
a PC without removing 
the cover 

CALIFORNIA 10 PAK^ utilities answer the 
tough questions about system 
configuration and the content of files 

■ displays system configuration and maps all installed 
memory 

■ displays, compares and sorts text files, nontext files and 
any area of memory in ways DOS can't 

• disassembles .COM files, .EXE files or memory to 
produce ready-to-assemble source files 

• lets users create color menus and help screens 

■ only $79 plus $3 shipping (California residents add 6% 
sales tax) 



CALIFORNIA 
SOFTWARE 
PRODUCTS, INC. 



525 N. Cabrillp Park Drive 
Santa Ana, CA 92701 
Call 714-973-0440 or telex 685645 

@ 1967 Cibioim Software Produas. Ix BACXPAK and CALIFORNIA 10 PAK are registered 
Indemarks and HELPME is a trademart of Cahtornia Software Products Inc I8M. IBM PC and 
Petwrul System/2 are refjistered iradefnarks of International Busmess Mactmes Corporalian 



Superior Program Duplication 

Everything you do Check th«M bancfttst 

rides on the disk • 3'^^'. 5V* 8'. 48 TPl, 96TPI and high donsiiy. 

your customer gels. • Choice of GOO formats provided on high quality media 

Our top-quality • 24-hour delrvery of 50 lo 5^000 copies. Drop shipping, 

duplication service • Free warehousirtg and monthly inventory control report, 

guards your repute- • Labeling, collating, packaging and shrink wrapping service. 

tk>n and assures • Free serialization. Copy pnMection and more, 

your satisfaction. • Colored or black media with lifetime disk warranty, 

rtte'wB never missed a shipping date - fO'** discount if we dof 



1701 E. Edinger Ave., Building A4 
Santa Ana, California 92705 
Call 714/547-3383 (Collect) 



IMPORTANT NEWS FOR DESQVIEW/AST 
SPECIAL EDITION USERS 

Time is running out for you lo upgrade to DESQview 2.0 
at the special low price. If you act before Septennber 30, 
1987 you get DESQview 2.0 for only $50 plus $5 ship- 
ping and handling (add 6.5% sales tax in California). 
After that date you can still upgrade but your cost will be 
$80 plus $5 shipping and handling. So hurry and save. 
Send your DESQview registration card and check to: 

DESQview 2.0 Upgrade Offer 

Ouanerdeck Office Systems • 150 P co Blvd • Saira Monica, CA 90405 
Tel (213)392-9851 



Learn C on TV 

Leain C quickly and easily with 
the video training course, A Pro- 
grammer's Introduction to C. 

Course includes 3Vi hours of 
video instruction and a 115 
page booklet. Cost: $400.00. A 
free 1 5 day review available. 

Berkeley Decision/Systems 
803 Pine Street 
Santa Cruz, CA 95062 
(408) 458-0500 



Forgetting appointments, expir- 
ation dates, aimivcrsaries, due 
dates? RENflND can take care 
of that ForlBMPC&compat.. 
$19.95 check or money order 
tax in CA). COD, add 
$2.75. Money-back guarantee. 



Schnapp Software Consltg 
#IW, P.O. Box 261091 
San Diego, CA 92126 




THE BALERl 

1-2-3* 
COMPILER 

Fast conversion into 
custom, protected 
stand-alone applications. 

Distrilnilc Workatwrts Without 1-2-3 
NoRovalti« - 1-2-3 Wori-Alike 
1 A St 2.01 Commands, Functions & Macros 
Faster (10-400+1 ) k Smarter (10-80+%) 
Added Command*, Functions k Colors 
Formulas k Structure An? Tamperproof 

> K**P* Formulas Pmpnelaiy 

N No Programming Required 

"< Automated 'Menui/ma" Option 

V Generates Customizable Source Code 
n PC, XT, AT or F5/2, 80x87 Supported 

Includes Auditl23^^ lnlera<tive Auditor 

V 30 Day Money Etack Guarantee 

V W95 - Not Copy Protected 

V 2-Disk Demo Package - $10 
■J Simply The Best 

Cail to order: 
(800)327-6108 (317)564-2584 
VISA, MC, AmEx, COD Accepted 
Or Write: 

Brubaker Software 

8825 N. County Line Road East 
Ufayette, IN 47905 
Supporting 1-2-3 Since 1983 



MENUETTE 

The Applkitiom Menu Manager 

Ex«cul0 Programs from CUMom M«nua 
Link Menus into LoglcaNy-R«iate(] Group* 
Nunbw o( Merxjs Lmtod Onfy by Disk Spaoa 
Crsate Tumk«y Systems tor Otftca Staff 
Stmplrty Complex L(s«r tnteracUons 

Ceqtairet an MM fCJrr^r or frw (vmpalUr 
HMddUk mvnnended tite Bcentes nn OM r 

Send a\Kk or Money Order for $29.95 to 
Advanced SoRwar* Dmlgn, Inc. 
P.O. Box 712 
DaKalb. H. 60115 

To Order Direct wtlti Visa or Masttr Card 
CsN (815) 756-62M 



InfoWorld's 
Classified Advertising 

Each week InfoWorld delivers over 140,000 strictly qualified volume buyers. PC 
professionals read InfoWorld from cover to cover each week. And we get 
reports from satisfied advertisers that show InfoWorld as the number one 
source for ad results. Here are some data to get you started advertising in our 
Classified pages. 

All Classified pages appear in the 5-column format. Copy widths include 
borders. Minimum size copy is 2 inches and must be submitted camera-ready. 
If camera work is required to comply with ad dimensions, a production charge 
will be levied accordingly. Preferred reproduction material: stats, veloxes, 
PMT's, mechanicals. Screen ruling for black & white halftones is 85-line. 

CATEGORIES: 

Accessories, Business Opportunities, Diskettes, Diskette Copy Services, Educa- 
tion, Hardware, Mailing Lists, Media Conversion Services, Publications, Buy/ 
Lease, Seminars/Events, Services, Software, Supplies. Additional categories 
available upon request. 



Column Width 

1 column ad 

2 column ad 

3 column ad 

4 column ad 

5 column ad 



Copy Width 
1 13/16" 
3 13/16" 
5 13/16" 
7 13/16" 
9 13/16" 



MECHANICAL SPECIFICATIONS 
Number of Columns: 5 
Column Depth: 13" 

Full Page Copy Area: 9 13/16" x 13 3/8" 
Trim Size: 10 5/8" x 15" 

IISIFOg. 
WORLD- 



IM SmEMinSI, 1987 



IMcriwORLD 



CLASSIF'^ns 



DISKETTE 
DUPLICATOR 



Sollware 



On Line Systems 



Diskette 



BnvnHall 
Clone $99 

KeepTrax wotvs like your personal sec- 
retary Instant access lo employee records, 
birlhdayvanniversanes/Xmas lists, invent- 
ory expenses, toliow-up calls, appoint- 
ments Ihings-lo do Has phone book with 
aulo-dialer and texl editor 

Creates reports and nfiailing labels 
Much more Completefy sell-teactiino 

Money-back guarantee MS/PC-DOS 



Kipep'Tl3\ 

Software Division, Oalalec Services Inc. 

2250 E lmp«tial Highway #220 
El Segundo. CA 90245 
2 1 3 /540- 1 700 Visl'MasleiCam 

24 Hours 



ProFont 

Editing System 



I 

i 



ProFont Editor - 

(ht moil lophlitlcAled graphlct 
•dilor tor bitmap fonts ■ S3O0 

ProFont ConvBrslons - 

S100 per lormjit shown b«iow: 
HP Luerjfll Plus and Serl»s l( 
AST TurbQL«»r 
Cordati LP300 and tP300X 
Canon LBP-aA1, 8A2. NCR M16 
Vtnlura. GEM. MS-Windows 
Bilatrttm, Compugrapriic 
X*roi 4045 and 2700 
MP/C«non Font Carlndges 
T^X and Fonlni Fonis 



CALL. OR WRITE FOR FREE BROCHURE 

509WannSl "227 (BOS) 373-1919 
Thousand Oaks CA 91360 



Fnd it in InloWortd's 

Classifieds! 



USE DOS 
YOUR WAY 

Learn DOS. Avoid DOS. or 
Use DOS like a Pro ! ! ! 

MAXAM provides online help for 
every paramclcr of every DOS com- 
mand. Used by ihousarxls. $29.95 

MaxaMenu replaces DOS prompt 
with user defined menus. $34.95 
MaxShdl extends DOS. adds drop- 
down menus, multiple vie*s. file lag- 
ging, command rxrcatl. and much 
mofc. Great file manager. S39.95 

SalisTactton Guaranfeed. Not copy 
protected. To order, call (800) 752- 
7001 x910 24 hours a day. 7 days a 
v^cek. Visa & Mastercard accepted. 
For a denw diskette, seruf S3.00 lo: 
Maxamedia Marketing. 2701 -C W. 
15ih Street #300. Piano. TX 75075. 



RAISE VENTURE CAPITAL 
witli a good business plant 

USE 



Bottomline-V 

The business planning system. 

(for most spreadsheets ) 
8,000 installations worldwide.. 
Reg. $495.00 
Special $299.00 
Call Now! 
(714)759-8987 



SOFTWARE 
PACKACINCW! 



SMI 




KAUidoscopE 

GROUP »\*^/« 



IBM/PC DOCLnviENT 
CONVKRSIONS 



WORDFORWORD™ 
The "Industry StandariT 
in document conversion 

• TWO-WAY CONVERSION 
•FASTI 

• ALL FOR-MATITNG PRESERVE!: 

• B ATCl 1 OR INTERACn VE 

• ASCn 

• EBCDIC 

• COMMUNICATIONS 

• THOUSANDS SOLDI 

WORDSTAfl PFS 

WDHDPEHFECT MS WORD 

VOUSWflrreH OlSPLAVWRrTE 

MULTMATE OfFCE WRITER 

BM WRFTING ASST. OCJVRFT 

ALL FOR $149.00 
CALL NOW! m-i2MW 
MASTERSOFT, INC. 
PHC«NIX,AZ 85016 
602-277-0900 



SSSEARCH 

THE TEXT SEARCH 
PROGRAM FINDS IT FAST! 



' Easy to use 

• Searches any file 

• Optior^l case sensrtrvity 

• Searches aH files in directixy 

• Screen using DOS wildcards 
and update date 

■ Exclude program files; dctionaiies etc. 

• Flexltle output to CRT. He. or printer 

• Not copy protected 

• 30 day money back guarantee 
Requires PC or compatibte. DOS 2.1 or 
later. Send S 1 9.95 ( * 5% lax ii HM) to: 

MCS SYSTEMS LTD. 
Attn: SSSEAftCH 
5 Kane kidustnal Dr., Suite 12 
Hudson, MA 01749 
or Call 617-S62-5747 



Sell it in InfoWortd't Qassilieds! 



ENVELOPE 

ADDRESS ENVELOPES 
ON YOUR HP LASERJET 

Uses existing dBASE files 
Supports 4 envelope sizes 
Many more features 
No copy protection 
PC/XT/AT DOS 2.x & higher 

$49.95 
ASPEN ASSOCIATES 
12130 MOON RD. 
MILAN, Ml. 48160 
(313) 769-8066 



WORD STAR 3.31 ,i«h,a«... $49 

P.C. PAINTBRUSH 15.00 



Otrona Liquidation 



303-691 -9246 



2135 8. Cherry St., Suite 222 Denver, CO 80222 

VISA, MONEY ORDERS. CASHIERS CHECKS. CO D- 



TURN YOUR PC XT AT INTO 
MULTI-USER, ON-LINE SYSTEM 



"NFOHOST* 

Mutb-ueer On-Mne S/stem Software 
(R«vtewed by PC Vhek on 5rig.^87) 
You can now place a databaM o< goods arxi 
sarvloas on-few using you own PC. so your 
customers can (M «t over phone mas to ac 
08*3 infomiatlon. leave messaoae, and malte 
purchasM via modem MoHosi. wtiich can 
support a* manv aa eight sirndtaneous mo- 
dem rtarfaces. naturae a cu«lomtzat>le reia- 
tionai database mat can be adapted to the 
needs o( yotf bustfiess 

A-Comm Electrontca, Inc. 

377 Rte 1 7 So, Hasbroock Hts, NJ 07604 
(201) 288-7885 TLX: 4948376 



CALL OUR DEMO 201-288-7792 

(Modern Scninga 8 I 'NI 



Compuler Insurance 



SAFEWARE 

Insure your computer. 
Safeware provides full re- 
placement of hardware, me- 
dia, and purchased software. 
As little as $39 a year provides 
comprehensive coverage. 
With our blanket coverage, no 
lists of equipment are needed. 
One phone call does it all! Call 
8am - 1 0pm EST (Sat. 9 - 5). 
800-848-3469 National 
614-262-0559 Ohio 



If you offer 
Computer Insurance, 
your ad should be in 
InfoWorld's 

Classifieds. 

Call 
415/328-4602, 
In California, 
800/344-4636. 
Outside California, 
800/227-8365. 



Networking 



UNLEASH 386/286 POWER! 



PC MOS/366 and MuHIIInk Advanced 

turn PC/XT/286/386 Computers mto 
Powerful. Affordable 
Mulliuser Systems 

- Run at! existing DOS Software 

- Connect up lo 25 inexpensive CRT 
terminals via serial pohs 

~ Complele custom configured svstems 
using WYSE hardware available 

- Call today tor free consultation 

- WYSE 40 meg 386 WY-60 terminal and 
PC-MOS - ready lo fun multiuser 
system — under }5500 



DATATRUST 201222 6363 

3;9W(:!.lv»iJiiilA»E LungBuntli NJO/i'M 



Supplies 



'WINDOWS' 

for 

YOUR DISK DIRECTORIES 

Clear vnyl pocKets with 
;r " -vrtl*?" an adhesive tiack ttial 
iHt'^ attaches to (he (roni ol 
5 V4 cisk jackets so 
you- cfrectory hardcopy 
E atways vistjie at a 
^ance No need to load 
arti tsX your dtreclory to 
see wtach dfek has wtich 
ne (very frustrating and 
time conajTwig) No more 
rxred to stuff yoir hardcopy down inside 
the jacket witti ttte dksk ( that's a no, no) 
CRDO1NOW0M-YS199/10 resi- 
dents add 6% tax D»JPAUl, Dept 30. 
23W Sebring, Stn Valey. CA 93065 




TO 



I 



AUTOMATIC 
DISKETTE 
DUPLICATOR 

• Runs stand-alone or atucbcd lo PC 

• Copic* 5'/4-inch 3'''j-inch 
fornuib. including IBM PS'l 

• Onc-bullon unaficn^^ j operaiion 

• Removable inpul/outpul cannislcr^ 

• Senali/e'Pnnl LahckTcvi Ahgnmeni 

$5,995 



vicroinf > 

ENTERrUSES 



Call 1-800-421-0103 

1512.450^)8011 



AUTOFAX'S NEWAFX4B 
DISKETTE DUPLICATOR 

4 COPIES EVERY 
56 SECONDS 

• 4e TPI, 96 TPI, and 3V4 " Fomats 
Avalable 

• High Output-200 Copies Par Hour 
•Audfele Alarm When Copies Com- 
pleted 

• Preventative Mainterwice IrxScator 

• On Screen Production Statistics 
■ Multiple Formats Supported 

• Diskette Senalization 

$1,995 




autofax 

4113-A Scotls Valley Drive 
Scotts Valey, CA 95066 

(408) 438-6861 
Dealer Inqukfea InvHad 



Let InfoWorld's 

Classifieds work for you. 
Call 

415/328-4602, 
In California, 
800/344-4636. 
Outside Califomia, 
800/227-8365. 



ALL IBM FORMATS 
AFX 4B-48 TPI 

$1995 

Suggested Retail 

4 DISKS/MIN. 

Lnr* 1-800-634-1967 
-rLr 1-800-821-7807 

(In OA) 



DUPLICATION 

QTY. PRICE 



500 + 
1000+ 
2500 + 
5000 + 



.70 
.67 
.64 
.60 



-5K " IBM formats - 

I Incliidn iJtev* «■(! anklicftion of reur lit 
> Call lor pricn on spaciij rtquirtinantt. 

DISKHAUS 

603 366 2020 



InfoWorfd't fast tumarourxj time makes 
the diffeferx» Why watt months for 
response and sales? 



DISK DUPLICATION 
DLANKET SERVICES 

* Packaging 

* Stocking/Drop Shipping 

* 48-hour delivery 

* SUPERLOK copy protection 

* Lifetime guarantee 

* No "mastering" charge 

* No charge for standard labels 



Star-Byte, Inc. 



(800) 243-151S 
(215) 368-i;00 




The key to 
successful 
selling is 
InfoWorld's 

Classifieds. 

Let us open the doors 
of opportunity for you! 



Training 



C R I B S H 



E T 



Fed up with manuals and user guides? 

Time consuming. frustraMng searches lor elusive commands in thick volumes Long 
conlusing instructions. Wasted time Finally giving up ar>d muddling along at minimal 
efficiency -getting only $40 value out ol $^-00* programs. 

Try CRIBSHEETS '^, a reference system that works. 

Gel complete program Information quickly, concisely. 

* Not just another user guide- nothing is skipped (except superfluous language) 

' Concise- 25% of the bulk of the original nianuai. Great for training and portatilllty. 
" Convenieni, last, easy to use -tabs, tab tinder, built-in oasel/page marker. "Crib Cards* 

* Get full value out of your costly software, time, and staff 

"The best of Its kind we've seen." 

CRIBSHEETS' for LOTUS 1-2-3* REDUCED TO $19.95, INCLUDING "CRIB CARDS"! 

Add $3 shipplngitiancfling; CA residents add sales tax. Symphony™ and other titles soon 
Cribsheels. 34 Noche Visla. Tiburon CA 94920 (415)435-1591 Full refund if not saiisfied. 



SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 107 



INFOWORLD 



DisNettes 



BRAND NAME 
DISKETTES 



29 

79* 



0 sv.'osx 



CottiV/OSOC 
Un SO 



m so 



t fnnl nbaly de%dtve vrinr sn mortfis 
siMve tfis. Uels FcxTYVEC!*nK.a«2l 



)' 

Si 



jwssoo )'*i)sro 

Min. 25 MIn 25 



$409 
$^29 

m^M IKK 

5'/4* DSOO Cctor SV*' DSDO 

Un 10 tons Fin PMK Cm 

Ur 3 Boies 

*1920 ^ISSP 

Un& eOClPDMB libiS 205 4016 

MiCinndife VnCjntgi 

W'KICcnpate 
kinadM «vpf^ - QunrM ittstichyi 
Cil fat <)Bcixrts ix lifQV [)iden 
lOMUMteftRMli 
9«pf*g.I3.S0pariwicrt)(V5Cea;7i9]dt icf ucV1SAicc«M 

1'800-537-1600 0PBUTt)itiia4i 
MCRO electbqhh: products 



InfoWorld's Classifieds 
give you the best 

Business Opportunities. 
Put them to work 
for you! 



IntoWortd's Classifieds include: 
Accessories, Businesss Oppcrtunttles. 
Diskettes. Diskette Copy Services. 
Education, Hardware. Media Conwersicn 
Service, PuWicabons, Careers. Buy/Lease. 
Seminars/Events. Services, Software. 
Supplies and Text Scanners. 



COLORED 
DISKETTES 



100% CERTIFIED 
5V4 ' DS/DD 55^ 

Min. order 300 disks, bulk packed. 
Includes sleeves labels and tabs. 

800-222-0490 

In NJ 201-462-7628 



• 24 Hour Shipment • 

MEGHSoft 

PO Box 710, Froohold, NJ 07728 



QUALITY DISKETTES 



5'A DS-DD 
1 00% Certified 
lifetime Warranty 
U.S. Mfg., hub ring 



26 < 



Ouonhty 1000 
StoaNo 5205 C 



3»^'DSOO$M0e 

IMMEDIATE SHIPPING 

Shipping $2 per 1 00 diiketi«) 
Order by phone ICODI or isnd your the^V to 

AMERICAL GROUP 
(818) 906-1132 

14200 Venluro BWd Sie. 201, 
Sherman Ooks, CA 91 423 



100% CERTIFIED 
BULK DISKS 



5V4 DS/DD 59* 
SVa DS/DD 1.19 

5Va" ds/hd 1.59 

Price tMsed on quantity of 300 
includes sieeves, labels and labs. 

800-222-0490 

in NJ 201-462-7628 



• 24 Hour Shipment • 

MEGASoft 

PO Box 710, Freehold, NJ 07728 

Full service duplicalion (acilily 




Attention Southern California Advertisers: 

InfoWorld's got the Southern California market 
covered . . . Call Martha Wilkins, our So. CA, WA, 
OR, and UT ad representative, for more 
information. 714/250-1305, 800/262-8277. 



BULK DISKS 



3M 5V." DS/DD 57C 
SYNCOM 5'/a" DS/DD 49C 
TDK 5'/4" DS/HD $1.29 

Pnce based on quantity of 200 
includes labels, sleeves & tabs 

800-426-0247 

In NJ 2(11-840-8911 



PRINCETON 
DISKETTE 

415Central Blvd . Bnck. NJ 08724 



PILLARCO, INC 

COMPtTER PRODt CTS CENTE R 

I Diskettes | 

l.ifiliim Warranty 100% Error Free! 
Major 11.S. Manuracturer 

34 ( White Box Bulk 25C 

• Bulk Diikciics come 
will) huh nng and wriie 
pf«cci labs, packaged 'r. 
poly hagv 

A<kl the Ccrikiwing i ' 
2t Paper sleeve OR 
' Tyvdt sleeves 
lablei & lain 
11.2 MB) 
-l.S Single Side 95 ( 

Double Sided 
Add St. in thipfnni; per 



Packaged 10 Disks in 
plain white bo\ and 
include Uk tolowing: 
• Tvvck sleeves 
Uteris & Tabs 



MAf V V -Jt labic- 



Ten t>ITerenl 
Colon 



Including ileeves. 
labels & tihs 

L. A.. L A WtZI 



PlLL\Rf n, INL. 

213-477-5442 



ATTENTION Dealers/Volume Buyers 



Mailing lists 



LARGEST SELECTION 
OF COMPUTER 
INDUSTRY/USER 
MAILING USTS ANYWHERE! 

CsU or wnte lo( tree catalog 



OVER 2 MILLION NAMES 



■ Select by brand ■ Stares, VAR's, Chains, 
Mail Order Dealers ■ Educational Lists ■ 
Engineers/Scientists ■ Corporate and Home 
Users ■ Call or write lor 64 page catalog irv 
dicale your type cA business 

Irv Brechner, President 
TARGETED MARKETING INa 
Box 5125-1 • RIdgewood NJ 07451 



PRECISION by XIDEX _i/ M -9 C 
DATA MAG 5 /i /L ' 0 
HIGHLAND by 3M ' "T D5/DD 




Setl your software or tiardware in 
IntoWortd'. Classifieds Cal 
415/328-4602. In California, 
800/344-4636. Outside California. 
800/227-8365. 


MAXELL 5/ teo 


DYSAN 5Xl2o^„ 


MAXELL3;^17ol?b 




IBM OR MAXELLoV >in95 
for PS/2 ^^^■}j?S^o 


1 Desktop 


ZEBRA DISKSWE WOHT BE 
pniladelphli. P» UNDERSOLD 

215-673-9705 

BULK COLOR DISKETTES NOW AVAILABLE 




1 Desktop Publishers Int'l. 
1 1-800-548-0386 



♦ Ventura Publisher $499 

Compugi«ph.c/1TC fonis S135/tamily 

for V«nlufa. PageMaket. Availabla tom» 
ir«lude Cenluiy, Souvenir. GaramorxJ. 
Futura, Avant Gaid*. BaskaMlla. Gil) Sara. 
Omega. Roclcwe!!, Times. Trlumvirale. 
Unn^en, TypewrtlBf. Antique Olwe, Math. 
- > Inl'l, characlar »«t support available. 
Holt: These fonts are In MP sontoni tormaL 
Dealer lrK|uir4es Irrvited 

HP sofrtonls. ca/trWoes SCAIX 

HALO DPE wtth tuH pege support 

PUBUSHEFTS PAINTBRUSH (lOe 

FANCY WOHO for MS Word (100 

LASER FONTS from Sottcraft t130 

Canon lX-12 SCANNER. Greall $749 

wtth Hato OPE {a t12e vaJuel) S709 

PC Inletface card for X)-12 »canrter..t2SB 

READ-RKJHT OCflfof tX-12 (448 

Princeton LS-dOO Scanrw tfimplata....S00S 



Many more desktop put>lishing products 
Call Of write for our free price catalog/price list 
Visa and MasterCard welcome 
NY State 4 technical line: 1-212-334.1234 
t05 HUDSON ST *310 NY, NY 10013 



EMPLOYMENT TODAY 



INFOWORLD 



DATRONICS success 
begins with people... 

Matching your skills to the perfect )0b 
opportunity is what we do besX- We of- 
fer competitive salaries, career oppor- 
tunities and job secunty. Come join ttie 
existirtg world of consulting. Contact 
Debt Dobtas, (201) 939-3438. or send 

your resume to DATRONICS, INC . 

201 Route 17, Rutherford, New Jersey 
07070. Equal Opportunrty Employer 
M/F. 

Mmimum 2 years of expenence 
UNIX C 

• Real time software design and 
ctevetopment within a UNIX/C 
environment 

• Performance modeling,' simulation, 
analytic 

• System integration, system testing 

• Device driver development 

• Operating systems development 

• Local area networks STAR LAN 

• Rjrlormance analysis 

• SNA architecture. SNA networ^^ 
operations 

• Internals experience with compilers 

• UNIX internals twrK^hmartcing 

• Systems administrators UNIX 
operating system VAX. 36 Series 

• VMS tnterr\afs 

3-5 years experience in any of the fol- 
lowing areas: 

• AOABAS/NATURAL 

• IDMS.'ADSO 

• IMS DB'OC, CICS 

• COBOL, PL1 

3-5 years recent tjackground as a Data 
Base Analyst or Administrator in an 
IMS DB/OC envirorvneni BackgrourKJ 
includir>g bil(ir>g system expeherKe. 



THINKING OF FLORIDA? 

Think Frank Leonard! 

(A divtsior of Omega Technical Corp ) 
Speciakzing in Data Processing. 
Ef^gmeormg. Technica* Sales 
Conlraci or ^rmanent 
Pfogfamnws. Systems Programmers. DBA s 



IMS. 0B2. lOMS. COBOLCtCS, MV&'XA. 
VM,'SP, VTAM^NCP. VAX/VMS. ADA. PAS- 
CAL. UNIXjC. INFORMIX 

Callof VWile 

FRANK LEONARD ASSOCIATES 



Orlando 305-894.eS51 
Tampa 813-479-5295 (Contract) 



'PICK' 

PROGRAMMER/ANALYST 

For PHN. inc , a Batiimofe based healthcare 
corp wrth PPO, HMO and TPA sutjsidianes 
EKceilerrt Denefti package Responsttukties 
system design, program development and 
maintenance ol rvlxxoe healthcare system 
Requtfemems: 3 -f years BASIC program- 
rrar>g in relational OPMS envlronmem, PICK 
experience Honeywel. DPS 8 and insurance 
background a pius Non-smokng company 
SerxJ resume and salary history by 10 '9 '67 to 

Pr*f*rrMl Health Network, Inc. 

5700 Exectrtive Dnve 
Surlel04 
Baltimore, MD 21226-1796 
Attn: Beverly Kram 

eoE 



G Al 



has immediate openings lor system and appli- 
cation programmer analysts with 3 plus years 
in any of the folowing: 

Honeywe«: GCOS 3 . GCOS 8, 
MULTICS, COMMUNICATION 

and DMIV-TP ntemals. PL6 and 

COROl 

IBM 3081. 4341, &36 MV&'XA, 
VTAM. CICS. VM, FOCUS. CO- 
BOL and RPG II 
WANG VS 1 50 and 65 

Opportunities currentfy exist m AZ. CA. TX. 
VA and HI Excellent salary and tienefll pack- 
age Send resume in conllclertce to: 

Dick Spayd. GAI, 2501 W Ounlap Ave . Suite 
185. Pheoniic.AZ 85021 



Don Cnamey, GAI. 520 N Washington St.. 
Suite 300. Falls Church. VA 22046 



NEW YORKERS 

Learn 

IMS/VS DB/DC 

at the New School 

12 Mondays Beginning 9/28 

John Jones 

Independent Consultant 



(212) 741-5690 to Register 
(21 2) 675-21 08 for Information 



COMPANY FEE-PAID AGENCY 
$26K-$57K 

Programmer.'Analyst to FVoject Leaders tl 
you are a systems prolessional with back- 

8 rounds in al least two. CICS. DB2. IMS 
BDC. IDMS, COBOL. FOCUS, VSAM. AS- 
SEMBLER. Data Modeling, DECVAX. VMS. 
Data Comm'DB ■ either on the applicatiorts or 

locfirMcai Bicitt, w» h«v* af>*rvinya throughout 

New England In miitiple inidustnes. Our diertts 
otter excellent tMrwftts, relocation and a a\at- 
lengmg prdessiorMl a ttno sp hafe. Please send 
a copy o* your resuma m r " ^ 



Sandy Weirw 
CAREER TECHNOLOOtES ASSOC 
37 Jerome Ave 
Bloom ftekl. ON 06002. 




Employment 
Today 



Call 
for 

Employment 
Today 
ad rates. 

415/328-4602, 
800/227-8365. 
In California, 
800/344-4636. 




• • • 



IMFO 



WORLD 

THE PC. NEWS WEEKLY 



Advert:ise in InfoWorld's Employment: Today Section 



108 SiPTEMBfK 21, 1987 



INFf WORLD 



EMPLOVMENT TOPav 



OPEN HOUSE 

Three hours that could make your career 



It is hard to believe. st> small an investment in time could yield a career so rich in opportunity. At The Boston 0»mpany, you will tmd the ivs*uirces 
and opportunities that only a subsidiary' of Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc., an American Express company can offer. 



DATA PROCESSING 
OPEN HOUSE 

Tuesday and Wednesday, September 15 and 16 
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm 
The Boston Company 

One Boston Place, 1st Floor Lobby, Boston 

This is challenging work in an IBM 3090 mainfbme environment with OS MVS, VSAM, CICS and COBOL. Working here, you will learn fmm the 
professionals who have made The Btwton Qimpany one of the festest grtiwing financial services institutions in the country. For over 100 years we have 
been providing financial services to New England's most sophisticated investor. You will be pan of the world's most extensive financial network. You 
will be working for a company that can work for you. To learn mote about the opportunities we have supporting our Mutual Funds, Custody Management. 
Trust and Treasury, Master Trust busmesses, as well as in a variety of banking/financial applications, meet w'lth us at our Open House. 



SYSTEMS: 



Project Managers 

Manages a systems team pnwiding user support 
to meet the business objectives of one or more 
departments. You will also initiate and direct 
anal>'sis. design, development, implementation 
and support of DP systems and services and 
ensure completion of all activities according to 
plan. 

Systems Consultants 

You will be responsible for designing and 
implementing major data processing systems and 
capabilities to meet business and DP objectives. 
You will also act as an expert in a particular sys- 
tem or application and select and incorporate 
new trends and de\'elopmenrs into the system. 

Senior Systems Analysts 

Responsibilities will include planning and per- 
forming all iispects of systerm ana!>-sis, design and 
development. You will lead small teams on tech- 
nical assignments ;is well as work with users and 
vendors to determine system requirements. 




Systems Analysts 

You will perform a wide variety of systems anal- 
ysts and development assignments, as well as par- 
ticipate in the design, testing, documentation 
and implementation of these systems. At least 
3 years ot related experience required. 

Programmer/ Analysts 

You will develop pn>grams including analysis, 
specification, documentation and modification, 
and interact with user personnel throughout the 
process. At least \Vi years of related experience 
required. 



OPERATIONS: 

Senior Operations 
Analyst 

Responsibilities will include developing, 
implementing and supporting control systems 
and facilities for dara center operations. You wilt 
alst) resolve problems, set schedules and recom- 
mend impRwements. Will wsirk with a wide 
range of useR. 

Senior Systems 
Programmer 

You will be rcsptmsible for all aspects of systems 
analysis, design and development for operating 
systems components, database and data commu- 
nication facilities, utility software, and/or hard- 
ware subsystems. 

Computer Operators 

Full and Part Time 

C^rating IBM mainframe computers, your 
specific tasks will include monitoring and 
responding to various messages via console CRT, 
as well as operating various peripheral devices 
including laser printers, tape drives, etc. 



The Btftton Qimpany t)ffers competitive salaries, excellent benefits and exceptional opportunities for advancement. Our location (on the comer of State 
and Washington Streets) is right in Boston accessible by the Gwcmment Center T stop and major highway>. If you drive in there is parking available 
in rhe Kinney garage located right next to One Boston Place. If you cannot make it to our Open House, please send your resume to: David Denato. 
31 St. James Ave, 4th Floi>r. Boston MA 02116. An equal opportunity employer. M/F/H/V. 







THE BOSTON COMPANY 

Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company 


A SuKklMrv ii( Shrtivm LcKnun Bni*h«rr. 1 
An Amcni.tn fcxpn-sN LKmp.tnv 





SEPTEMKR 21. 19S7 109 



EMPLOVMEIMT TODAY 



IMS Systems 
Programmer 

H.E.B. is the largest supermarket company in Texas. We 
have 150 stores, 24,000 employees and Dig plans (or the fu- 
ture. If your plans call for a cynamic, fastgrowing, great 
place to work, take a good, hard look at H.EB. 
We are currendy seeking an IMS Systems Programmer 
who will be responsible for providing technical support for 
our laige, high-volume terminal network. Qualifications 
include: 

^ Experience performing IMS 1.3 System generations, ap- 
plying IMS maintenance using SMP/E, and utilizing 
Boole and Babbage IMS performance products. 

• Responsible for the planning and installation of IMS and 
its related products including operating procedures and 
training. 

• Bachelor's d^ree in Computer Science along with strong 
communication skills, both oral and written. 

CXir employees enjoy competitive salaries and liberal bene- 
fits including an exceptional relocation package. Interested 
individuals may send their resume with salary history to: 
H.E.B. Foods • Drugs 
Atm: Corporate Recruiter 
PO. Box 9999 
San Antonio, Texas 78204-0999 
512-270-8478 




Ufi art iW ctjual <ffvrlmtty a»fh\vr m/f 



CiCHIMIIIiltlCMBrtiCNrMI 



Detaiiea SDlC. path control, session and presen- 
tation, and soltware implementation experience 
in a 3270 Primary and Secondary environment 
is required. PU2 1 and LU6.2 are preferred 
Knowledge of 3270 and 3780 BiSync is desirable. 




Due to our continuing growth, we have exciting 
opportunities lor engineering professionals in data 
communications to take major responsibility in 
developing state-of-the-art communications 
products in the following areas: 



,,iS 




Assistant Systems Analyst 
(Job #079) $2399 - 2890/MO. 
Full-time, temporary position 
in Computing Services at 
Humboldt State University. 
AcWitional appointments de- 
penderrt on available funding. 
BS/BA degree or equivalent 
ar>d one year of expierience. 
Contact HSU Personnel Of- 
fice, Areata, OA 95521 (707) 
826-3626. Application Dead- 
line: 9/30/87. An EOE/AA/Title 
IX Emptoyer. 



DIRECTOn Of PROOUCT DEVEi-OmENT 

Boston Cofp needs expenencad software 
protmslonal w/ex(M(1enc« in managemem ol 
PC-b«ssd dwiopman l protects denng wtoi 
$tat9K^-ttte-«rt t ech noloqie s . Company char- 
ter Is to develop/mart(et producttvtty toots for 
attys practtdng In private sector of ttte legal 
profession. Should have abarty to develops 
maintain large programs and the desire to be 
part of stat^ vermjni 
QUAUFICATIONS Master's degree m Comp 
Sd. or equlvaiertt cortibirtatxin ol education 
arxl experience, fluency in C language pro- 
grammirtg; protect management: exp. wloper- 
aUng system intemais and compler tech. Fa- 
militflty w/netviofli protoixi s desvable. 
Ea c eNnI aatary/beneftls. Eiiufty Incerv 
tiwa. Candidates shotid send 2 copies of re- 
sums and cover letter with saiary require- 
ments to: Box #CW-B4959. Gocnputerworld. 
Box 9171. Fran*»gham. MA 01701-9171 



PROGRAMMERS 

Greater Washington, DC, Baltimore, 
Philadelphia & Southern Vii^nia 



1/. 



If your programming skills 
match the power and 
productivity of 
VAX/VMS*. . .you can 
join the world's largest 
manufacturer of networked 
computer systems and 
associated peripherals. 

We're looking for indepen- 
dent and versatile profes- 
sionals with: 

• 3 or more years experi- 
ence with the design, 
development and 
documentation/testing of 
VAX/VMS software is 
required 

• applications development 
with 2 or more years 
database experience 
including ALL-IN-r 

• expertise in office auto- 
mation environments 



Send your resume to Joel 
Prescott, Dept. 0817 7804, 
Digital Equipment 
Corporation, 8400 Cor- 
porate Drive, Landover, 
MD 20785. 

Some positions require 
U.S. Citizenship 

We are an affirmative 
action employer 

'^Tradetnarks of Digital 
Equipment Corporation 



People and Technology... 
PERFECT INTERACTION 




SENIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 



Pansophic 
Systems 

There's something immensely gratifying about working with acompany 
that continues to win wide acclaim at the onginaling end of the software 
spectrum Great products, a strong record of corporate stability and 
growth, opportunity to develop next-generation software, and a vigor- 
ous commitment to product evolution are some of the more notable 
qualities on which our high-ranking reputation is built. 

With Pansophic you'll be challenged to live up to your full creative 
potential in software systems development. Currently, we're seeking 
individuals to work in Naperville. IL. Oakbrook Terrace, IL. and/or Brook- 
field, Wl with experience in as many of the following areas as possible: 



• PC DOS Internals 

• EASYTRIEVE PLUS/PC 
•CICS 

• Assembler 

• IBM PC 

• 8080 Assembler 

• IBM Mainframe 

• VTAM 



• Vendor Software 

• Relational Data Base 

• Natural Language 

• ISPF/Dialog Manager 

• PC/Maintrame Linkage 

• Productivity Tool Development 

• System 38 Applications 



Come share Pansophic's industry-wide prestige. Opportunities are 
available at various levels of development responsibility Salaries are 
solidly competitive and excellent benefits include tuition assistance 
and profit sharing. To apply in confidence, send resun'>e and salary his- 
tory to: D Burkwald, Depl. 90. Pansophic Systems, Incorporated. 709 
Enterprise Drive. Oak Brook. IL 60521 An equal opportunity employer 
m/f/h. (Principals only, please.) 



PANSOPHIC 



ARE YOU 

RM<ty tor that job change? 
Ijwktnfl for $25,000 - $35,000? 
Expwi«nc«d 1-3 years IBM Sys- 
tems? 

t(So... 

SerxJ your resume or caN collect 
Barbara Gkiklman 
DATPRO of Winston-Sa*em 
P C, Box 24522 
Winston SaJem. NO 271 1 4-4522 

919-768-2385 

comply fee paid positkxis 



DATABASE 
ADMINISTRATOR 

EWIRON/1. TOTAL. TIS, or SUPRA experv 
ence an quaMy you (or this newly created po- 
sitxm. Established MVS msiaUatxxi ts txingng 
data processrig irvtKXise, fnstaiing own corrv 
putar. and corwting to MVS/XA. VVe need an 
experienced database adrmnotraior with 
knowledge of ISM Assembler. VSAM. vid 
CiriCOMM software prodixrls You will have 
primary r&sponsibdrfy tor inslailatiori, mainte- 
nance, tun^ recommendations, and trouWe- 
shootir^g of oatatiase software. Opportunity to 
learn CICS 

Send resLxne with salary history and reqm- 
ments to: 

Interrvationat Salt Company 
Abirkfllon Executive Perk 
ClBfki SummK, M 18411 



PROGRAMMER 
ANALYST 

Southeastern positions avail- 
able in areas serviced by our 
NASHVILLE, TN; CHAR- 
LOTTE, NO; and COLUM- 
BIA. SO offices in the follow- 
ing: 

• IMS-DB/DC 

• Natural/ Adabas 

• Burroughs A Series 

• CICS or CICS/DL 1 

• VAX, Pick 

• Tandem, Pathway 

• IDMS and/or ADS/O 

• VAX, Ingres 

• Intergraph, CAD, Framme 

• Data Modeling 

• Habitat 

• Prime, Medusa 

We offer excellent benefits 
and competitive salaries. Call 
or send resume to our corpo- 
rate office: 




AMERICAN COMPUTER 
PROFESSIONALS 

P.O. Box 5125 
Columbia, SC 29250 
1-800-332-0555 

equal opportunity empioyer 



HOGAN 
Programmer Analyst 

We seek self-motivated program- 
ming professionals to join our 
growing staff. Requisite experi- 
ence includes 2 - 5 years program- 
ming in a HOGAN environment 
and woii< in systems analysis and/ 
or deposit applications (CIS. BPS, 
Umt)rella, etc.) We also nave posi- 
tions available for candidates with 
Banking Application experience. 

We are a state-of-the-art data pro- 
cessing organization servicing the 
KeyCorp family of banks. Located 
in historic Albany, we offer a quali- 
ty of work and life hard to match 
elsewhere. 

If your personal and professional 
needs encompass: 

• State-of-ttie-art banking 
system, 

• On-line real time processing, 

• Team environment, 

• Growth: high visibility. 

• 3090 technology: MVS X/A. 

• Competitive salary and t)enefits, 

• Modem, attractive work 

environment. 
Let's discuss our mutual interest. 
Send resume and salary require- 
ments to: 



Manager 
Human Resources 
Key Sendees Corporatkxi 
A KeyCorp Company 
P C Box 1440 
Albany. NY 12201-1440 



30-ir 

iCOBP 



A KeyCorp Company 
Equd Opportinty Em[ 



OFFICE AUTOMATION 
SYSTEMS PROJECT LEADER 

Ttie Depafimem o( Con-eciion is seek^ig an 
experierKCKt protessKX^al to manage its office 
automation systems unit The unit is respons*- 
ble (or the support of the currenl n^ocorrv 
puter and PC systems trtroughout the depart- 
ment, usor tram^. application developmerV: 
piannir^ afxl design and imptementation of 
sysleiTK upgrades and megrabon. with other 
systems m the department 

The appticant stxxikJ possess good DP rnan- 
agement skHls arx) good user interlace skins 
A good expenerK» in maocomputer hard- 
ware, software development, connectivity to 
mainframes arxl mimsystems; arxl LAN's, is a 
must 

Send resume wtth salary htstory to 

NYC Depanmeni of Correction 
Personne) Dtvition 

225 Bntadway 
New Vofli, NY 10007 

NYC Oepanment of Correction is an 
Equal Opportunity Employer 



no SEPTEMia 21, mr 



INFrWORLD 



EMPLOYMENT TOOAY 



PROGRAMMER/ ANALYSTS 

tmrwOMa opsnlnos i> ONo. Indiana and 
t/tdrigtr tar P/A's with any ot the fo*owv>g 
sk«S: 

CICS, lOMS, «>S ' 0. FOCUS. 
TOTAL. COeOL, MANTIS, IMS. 
ORACLE, RPGHI. REVELATION 

Wb ofter an excelerv benefits packa^ in- 
chjdng shortiong term lAsaMty, hospttalua- 
ton. visor, dental, vacaton and 401/K For- 
ward resume, nduding salary requremerrts 

AZTEC 

Coinputer Services. Inc. 

P.O. Box 341 



CAREER 
ADVANCEMENT 

Data processing profes- 
sionals with 3 years of ex- 
perience in IBM, DEC, HP. 
Call (413) 739-7355 for a 
confidential discussion of 
your career opportunities 
or send your resume to: 

F-O-R-T-U-N-E 

Personnel Consultants 
115StateSt., Ste. 425 
Springfield, MA 01103 



SOUTHERN OREGON COAST 
OPPORTUNrrY 

Curry CouKy Qovarrvnent. an equdl opportu- 
nity invtoyar. locatsd In a amal w iiiiMily 
on Ilia Padllc Coaal la aunhg up an IBM 
9370 16MB. 70 Mrminat thap nr by a ooop- 
arattv* man a gamani taam of ata cl eo and ap- 
poinlad offloala. Exoalart convtunity and 
paopla. Salaflaa S38K444K h an araa i>f rata. 
Wa^ kw ooat ol Hng. Wk ara 1nra«antng r 
priyani a Irorri otf w coirtiaa pfca dawloprig 
naw and ajuJUiy sarvioaa. Vn nead paopla 



«iho uidarvtand and want ttia type of o 
tiiMy. A dapOi 01 a»parti nca m V8E. Ln^. 
and Canity GOTanvnant a pp i r ^ H ona daalr- 
atita. wa ara racnJiig far our anMra a otaa 
atonal alalt! OP Managar. Appica«ana Ming- 
ar. and Syatem Softwara Managar. RjaNlons 
opan mtl Mad Plaaaa cai (503) 247-7011 
axt. 222. Mai resume to: 

(Nanaoefflart Team 

c/o t^ifiy Couity 
Board otf Conanlaaionan 

POaoi74« 
Gold SaMh on 17444 



SYSTEM 38 
PROGRAMMER/ANALYST 

A leading »oft dnnh botting company located 
n Pntsburg. PA a seeking an experienced 
RPG li programmer wWi 3-5 years expert- 
eroe Structured programming, systems de- 
sign and orvlne prognmming expertanoe Is 
required W» are a new Sys/3i9 sliop lootung 
tor the right person to provide the technicaii 
leadersh^j needed lo further advanoe our sys- 
tem Mb ofter a competitive salary/benems 
package and opportunities tor professional 
(^owth. Sand resume and salary history to~ 

J.O'KMf* 
Abarta Inc. 
1000 RIDC Plaza 
Ptttsburd, PA 15238. 



DATABASE 
ADMINISTRATOR/SYSTEM 
MANAGER 

Non profit as s ociation at Ctiicago O Hare to 
catno seetts vxlividual to manage newly as- 
taOtatied wtyxjse data processing dept. nth 
lion involves modifying and managing 
n^touao data t>aaa system, attntrmtanng 
systems upei Bl kjii s . and training asaoctaOon 
users Tile suooassfii canddale a/xxJd fiave 
4 years OP experience. ncSj,^ progranv 
mng and data base admlnistratxin Bache- 
lor's Degree rvQixred Experience witti HP 
3000 and HP Rapid a plus. Send resume witti 
salary fequramaras to: 

Nellonal Roofing Cer*sctore Aeen- 
USO River Rd. 

a. 60011 



OPPORTUNITIES 

Midwest & Souttteiit 

MIS Management To SaOK 

Mgr TecJi Services (MVS) To $65K 

S/VVDevMgr(C, PC s) To $50K 

Sys Prog s (MVS. VM, aCS) To$60K 

DBA (l(v&. IDMS) To $42K 

Analysts (Bank. Mfg) To $45K 

Prgrmrs. P/A s (MIg.Bank.lns) To $38K 

Contact ROBERT EKEY, CPC 

FOX-MORRIS 

4700 RocktMe Rd, Suite 400 
Clevetand, OH 44131 
(216) 524-6565 



MIS PROFESSIONALS 



H&G 



H & G Associates is an executive recruitment firm offering confiden- 
tial, personalized career consulting. After discussing yi3ur strengths 
and interests, we seek ttie job opportunity tfiat helps maximize your 
career potential. 

We are currently working on a variety of MIS positions with many 
prominent large and start-up companies: eg. VAX Project Manager, 
IBM M/F LeatJ Programmer, Sr. Programmer Analyst. Data Base De- 
sign Consultant. Tech. Support Rep. For information, contact Janet 
Perl. 

H&G Associates, Inc. 

633 Trapeio Rd., Waltham, MA 02154 
617 894-6444 



□•P. Contractors 



Multiple assignments throughout New England with immediate 

starts (or analyst /programmers and consultants. 

COBOL CICS VSAM 

COBOL VSAM MVS 

C AP1>LICATI0N PROGRAMMERS 

Please call or send your rssums In strictest confidence to: 
Bsbaga International, 81 McNeil Circle, Marlboro. MA 01752, 
(617) 485-7209. ^ 




SR SYSTEMS ANALYST 

N. Carolina com(XJter systems co. has 
an opening tor a Senior Systems Ana- 
lyst with nwiagement responsitMlitjes. 

REQUIREMENTS: 

• ORACLE SOL or IBM DB2 sxp 

• Mm 3 yrs in a corporate DP 
environment wi\t\ project 
management responsibirities 

• Background m manufacturing & 
distntxjtkxi including: MRP II. 
Job shops, barcodhg. Inventory 
control and netiMxk communkatkyis 

• Good oommurucatkxis skills a must 
Respond to: 



MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS INC. 

PC BOX 24128 
WINSTON-SALEM, NO 271 14 



PROGRAMMER ANALYSTS 

AND 

SYSTEMS ANALYSTS 

Vifanted with BPG. S;3X expertence. 
Check out the largest, most respected, 
and dynamic iximputer software/tiarxl- 
ware company in Central F^nsytvanla. 
MIe are an established IBM VAR/VAD 
spedaJizing with the System 36. 
Join our staff and take advantage of 
professknal devetopment. chalenge. 
guaranteed career path, pleasam atino- 
sphere. and SUPERIOR compensatkn 
and benefits. Become a leader in your 
fieM with an IBM affiliated company. 

Get in on this grourxl fkxx opportunity 
to «or1> with IBM s new SILVER- 
LAKE computer (S/36 and 5/38 re- 
placement). 

Enjoy tfie variety of Irving in Central PA. 
Send resume with salary requirements 
to: 

Link Computer Corporation 

AtbK ProgrenuMng Meneger 
317 E. Pleasant Way Blvd. 
AKooiia. PA 16M2 



PROGRAMMER ANALYSTS 

Expenslcn opportunHfes 
Major eirpenskxil Fortixie 50 Rmi. 
Cd or write lodayl 
MVSMamals $45-60K 
Evaluation standards 
COBOL TSO 
BALCICS 
COBOL CICS 
PL1 BAL 

lOMSOBA t32-42K 
DEC VAX 
COBOL DB2 

CALL (312) 240-1233 
GENERAL EMPLOYMENT 
ENTERPRISES INC 

SSO lAbodsMd Dr *73S 
Schaumburg. IL 60173 



Programrner 
Item Processing 

We are expanding our Item Pro- 
cessing Systems Department and 
seek individuals with item pro- 
cessing programming experience 

Tfie ideal candidate will have ex- 
perience in CPCS. Vfector prod- 
ucts, and PEP. Expertence in item 
processing (MICR capture. PIPS. 
The Control Machine. SCI coding. 
ACH, ORBS, etc.) vKiH be consid- 
ered. 

Key Services is tfie data process- 
ing arm of KeyCorp, a rapidly 
growing regkxial bank hokling 
company headqiiartered in Atoa- 
ny. NY. Our operating environ- 
ment is MVS-XA on an IBM 3090- 
200. 

The Altiany area offers an out- 
standing quality of life at an afford- 
able cost. Tfie area is within a 
three hour dnve to the exciting cit- 
ies of Montreal, Boston and New 
York and yet provides a pleasant 
pace of livino Saratoga Springs, 
the Adirondack's and Catskill 
Mountains are nearby 

We offer a very iximpetitive salary 
and benefit package. Please for- 
ward your resume and salary his- 
tory to: 

Manager 
Human Resources 
Key Sennces Corporatxxi 
A KeyCorp Cornpany 
P.O. Box 1440 
Albany. NY 12201-1440 



30-«r 
ZCORP 



A KeyCorp Company 
Equs Opportunity Employer 



HARRAH'S HOTEL CASmO 
IN RENO. NEVADA 
SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER 

Harrah's Reno currantty has an openirM in 
Vt&r lylanagemar« Information Syslams De- 
partment for a Systems Devetopmen Manag- 
er The tunctlor ol thn position is to manage 
me design, development, mpiementation arx) 
mamlenance of <Jata prooess«ig systems. 
Preferred requirements irx:lude a college de- 
gree (n Accounting, Uxnpuier Sciences, Mar*- 
agamenl ScterKes or reiateO Enginaenng ds- 
ci>*rw. six to eight years in data processing, 
and a mmimum of three years in a prefect 
management position with a strong knowt- 
adge ot flPG and tSM System/38 hardware 
and system software 

A career positun with Harrah's offers chal- 
lenges ma outstarvjmg advanMmem poten- 



tial witti a compansatlon & benefits package 
among the industry s finest OuaWled irKtvw- 
uats who possess the desired experience may 



submrt a resume with salary history & require- 
ments to: 

Harrah's Reiw 
John Leam«d 
P.O. Box 10 
Reno, NV 89520 

An EQua/ OppOflunity Employer M'F 
U.S Otiztns and Authonrod AJiens Only 



Exceptional 

CAREERS 

In A State-Of-The-Art 
IBM Systems Complex 

The Shared Services Center (SSC) plays a key rote m 
maintaining our market competitiveness It is an environment 
where professKinal teamwork and tfie latest lectinotogies and 
techniques combine to provide and support tfie most ftexibte 
healthcare insurance products avalabte 

As a result of upgrading and expantlng our information systetrts 
capat>iities, we are looking for tecfmical professnnals wfx) are 
expert in sftaring tfieir kleas tfirough presentalkxis and 
communications with both techncal aind non-tecftnicaJ staff. 
Immediate requiremenis include: 

CAPACITY ANALYST 

THE CHALLENGES of tfils positkjn inckjde: tong-range 
capacity planning, utizing forecasting and modeling tools; 
monitoring and reporting ttie status of actual hardware 
utSzatkjn vs. Itie long-range plan and making systems 
softwarB and hardware recommendatkyis ttiat steer us 
toward satisfying projected servKe level requirements 
YOUR BACKGROUND shouW include knowledge of MVS 
OS/XL utiities, ROSCOE. and SAS A BSCS is preferred, 
akjng with 7 or more years experience in operating systems 
programming including applk;atk)ns. or 10 total years 
experience in tfiese areas with knowledge of statistical 
mettiods and analysis. corx:eptual Knowledge of MVS/XA. 
JES-2, CICS and telepnx;essing Familiarity virith all EDP 
hardware devices and with monitonng soHware such as SMF. 
CMF, RAH and capacity planning software such as MXG and 
I^AZDAMOM wouW be helpful. 

SYSTEMS ANALYSTS 

Vie are kxiking tor additkmal leaders wfK> wi affect one 
successful, cost-effective project complelion after anotfier 
CandkJates must be abte to provkle project direction, including 
documentatkxi and systems devekjpmeni cost estimates and 
shouU have BSCS Degrees and 4 or more years relevant 
experience. 

These positnns represent cfialenge and growth opportunity 
lor capable leaden whose pfoblem-solving atKl leadership 
talents are under-utilized. The salaries are commensurate with 
experience and the benefits are outstanding. 

Join us and grow in one of Ifie nation's mosl liveable markets, 
ctiosen for transportation ease, putjiic safety and its abundance 
of medical facittes. fbul also like the affordabity of our 
kxation and its proximity to Washington-OC. Baltinvxe and 
the Chesapeake Bay. Contact Gary Smith at (717) 255-6289 
or send your resume to Human Resoorces-CW914, 
CARTAL BLUE CROSS. 100 Pine Street, Harrisburg. P/< 17101 
{No thrd party submissions, ptease ) 



^1 Capital Bkie Cross 



tquai employiTicnf opporlunilv'attirmMti^^ action emploftr 



PROGRAMMER 
ANALYST n 

t27.004-t36.«a AnrnmUY 

This position performs skilled applications programming 
work utilizing COBOL on Hewlett Packard equipment. 

Candidate will typically assume general responsibility for: 

• Development of applications specifications 

• Development of program test data 

• Development of program documentation 

• Program coding and systems analysis 

This position requires a minimum ot 2 years experience in 
computer applications programming utilizing COBOL and a 
working knowledge ol Hewlett Packard equipment and 
systems, preferably supplemented by completion of 15 
semester hours of computer science courses or a college 
degree in Computer Science. 

Interested and qualified candidates must submit a com- 
pleted official City applicalion form by September 30 to: 



CITY OF TEMPE 

Employment Olfke 
3t E. $th Street. Tempe. AZ iS2S^ 
(t02) 7314276 




SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 111 



INFOMARKET 



INFOWORLD 







USER 

PC 




^^^^ 1 




LAPTOPS! 

for ff'of* 
For School 
For Vacation 



99 Tasks on any PC - Under $20011 
Run up to 5 users & "Hot-Key" up to 99 
DOS programs simultaneoulsy on 1 PC. 
XT, AT or 386!!! Plug one PCPlex Multi- 
User/Tasking Board into any vacant slot & 
connect up to 4 inexpensive terminals - 
NOT PC'S ■ A TRUE Multi-User System! 
PCPl£XI ■ 99 Tasks SimuHanaouslY! -IT^ 
PCPl-EX III - 3 Multi-Users & 99 Tasks - $245 
PCPl£X V - 5 Mult)-Users & 99 Tasks - $445 

800-443-8Z31 
Rapid System Solutions In OA 714-240-0407 
PO Box 6971X38 Oana Point, CA 92629 



^/ /',4ro/.vA^ 



HARD DISK TUNE-UPI 

Are you sire your hard disk drive is pertomiing 
at peak efficiency? As a hard disk is used, per- 
formance dednes tecause DOS txeaks files 
into pieces & stores ttie fragments in separate 
locations on the disk. With PACKDISK. frag- 
merrted Nes are reassemtiled. resulting m a dra- 
matic improvemerrt in fie-fiandling speed. 
■PACKDISK" vers. 1.4. not copy protected, 
ind. manual Only $15-t-$4 S/H VisaWC/COD. 
UPS Blue Order 1-800^1-0851 Ext. 500 

MICROWARE EXCELTEK INC. 
100E Produce Ave. So. S. F., CA 94080 
415-952-S375 FAX: 415-952-3057 



9 TRACK TAPE • OCR SCANNING 
WORD PROCESSING CONVERSIONS 

CONNECT your systems! We manufacture 
conversksn systems for your PC/XT/ AT 
Our "DISKETTE CONNECTION" can read 
and write almost any WP or computer 
diskette Our SCANNING CONNECTION" 
captures text and images for your desktop 
pubfehing system Oir TAPE CONNECTION " 
can read »xJ write 80O^1600/6250 OCR 
tapes System prices start at $1 195. 
Flagstaff Engineering 1120Kailwb 
Flagstaff, AZ 86001 602-779-3341 



A UNIQUE WAY TO UPGRADE 
YOUR COMPUTER I 

We re talking atxiut our 1 .44MB and 720K 
ASTRO 3 5" drives, and you can choose 
from EXTERNAL or INTERNAL drive. Sys- 
tem works on IBM-PC/XT/AT compatibles 
and direct access to data files generated 
on the IBM, HP150, Toshiba and NEC 
laptop Run WITH or WITHOUT DOS 3.30, 
tliere Is NO need to upgrade to a na«« 
DOS. Also available for IBM-PCjr 
ASTRO SYSTEMS, INC. 
408-727-5599/7626 807 AMo Ave., # 1 06 
Fax:408-727-4189 Santa Clara, C A 95094 




Exotic Office Concepts 

HeartBeat computer work space is more ex- 
citing arvl iTKxe appealing than ever before 
The HeartBeat Trimline Series was desigried 
to deliver an optimum mix of styling, comfort 
and convenience To acquire your HeartBeat 
computer workspace, contact; 



818-898-1198 
1 2S0 1 Gladstone B2 Sylmar, C A 9 1 342 



ArS DON'T NEED 360kB DRIVES 

The 1.2mB drive has ioog tioen knovm to 
READ but NOT reliably WRITE on 360kB 
fksppies With "CPYAT2PC"" 1 2mB drives 
CAN reliably WRfTE 360kB ftoppies saving a 
sk)t for a secorxj hard disk or backup tape. 
"CPYAT2PC" (Not Copy Protected) offers 
the preferable SOFTWARE SOLUTION. 
ONLY $79 + $4 S/H VISA/MC/COD UPS B/R 
ORDER TOLL FREE 1-800-621-0851 X777 
TELEX EZLNK 62873089 DLR INQ INVITED 

MICROBRIDGE COMPUTERS 
655 SKYWAY SAN CARLOS, CA 94070 
415-593-8777 NY 212-334-1858 



• Zenith 181 - Zenith 183 

• Tosfiiba (latest models) • NEC • Datavue 

• SABA HandScan • Brooklyn Bridge 

• DIconix Printer • "Pocket" Modems 
Comart SW to 3V^" tMM awy nnaya: 

Simply plug into your laptop or PS/2 
our external 5V4" or 3Vi ' drive unit 
(V!i ht. simline case with power & caUe): 
or put our 3V^" drive in your desktop 
NEW: Ext driva for ZanWi 181, 183 ft PS/2'a 
LowPridng: 201-469-7678 201-297-2502 
Open 7 days 9AM-9PM EST 
COMPUTER OPTIONS UNLIMITED 
"TME LAPTOP SPECIALISTS" 




THE PS/2 CONNECTION! 

WHh AT system 7001 HD 286-8 or lOMhIz. 
you have tfie power, speed and NOW you 
HAVE MGH CAPACfTY OF 3.5" DISK DRIVE. 
Complete system atxive with 1MB RAM. 
1 .2MB dnve. Sertal/Parallel/Ck«k. Keylxard. 
Hercules Graphics compatible. Monitor. 
MSDOS 3.2 and 3.5" ASTRO INT1-HD 
support all formats: 1 .44MB/1 .2MB/720K and 
HP1 50. Also available for VGA/EGA system. 

• With 30MB hard disk $2,095.00 

ASTnO SYSTEMS, INC. 
408-727-5599/7626 807 AUo Ave., #106 
Fax: 408-727-4189 Santa Clara, CA 95054 



PrintMate" 
PiintMate provklas all features of all print- 
ers from wittiin all softwacel Point to ttie de- 
sired pnnting feature and confirm. Pop-up 
PmtMate tor vertK:al printing & deficit highlight- 
ing of spreadsheets, redirection of all printer 
output & much nxxel Not copy protected. 
Moneyt>ack Guarantee MS.0S + 83.00 S/H 
VISA/MC/COD (CA add $3.25 tax) 

MicroLogic Software, Inc. 

423 Pennsytvania Ave. #4, S.F., CA 94107 
415-824-6131 



CUSTOM CASES FOR COMPAQ 

MEGA-BAG protects your transportable 
right from the word Go. Sturdy, fully padded 
and waterproof charcoal tweed case witti 
unk^ue disk case sleeve, documentatkjn and 
accessory pockets, wrap-around hand 
straps and detachable (extra-wkle!) shouWer 
strap Unconditional 2-year guarantee. Cus- 
tom designed for Compag, with sizes for 
nx>st transportables. $84.95 + $7.50 S/H. 
VISA/MC 

800-237-3270, Ext 388 
MEGA-BAG" 202-928-1277 
PO Box 368. Ailnglon,VA 22210 




FormSat Version 1.2 



The forms generator designed exclusively for 
ttie HP LaserJet Ptus and Series II printers 
w/MS-OOS Create forms that kx* profes- 
snnally produced Positnn Ixixes & lines to 
1/300" accuracy F^ace text anywhere using 
any font. Include raster images in your form. 

Make entire form into an overlay. See your 
form t>efore printing with SHOW option. Only 
$189 95 + $4 S/H 30 day money-back 
guarantee MC/VISA/COD 
Oftiit Enterprises, Inc. PO Box 2875-IW 
Glen Ellyn,M60138 31 2-469-3405 



KEYDEX ~ "THE SOLUTION" 

• Four PC's share up to 2 printers 

• Manual or automatic printer selection 

• Multiple copy capability 

Al Keydax pnxkicts n dasignad to -mxi 
M AND PRMT". There are no special divers to 
add to yoix system and no comfHex routines to 
leam. 90 Iftle lime is tost whie users adapt to 
tfie now system Priced $139 $360 + $6 S/H. 
Ontor 1-600-547-3303 Tot: 503-626-2291 
Computer Friands, Inc. 
14250 N.W. Scianca Park Dftve 
Portand, OR 9722S 




THE 3.5" C0NNECTK3N I 



This 720K 3.5' disk drive is a drop-in " 
replacement for 5.25' drives! ftow you can 
upgrade your PC with the latest in drive 
tectmotogy Complete compatit>ility with ttie 
new portables from Toshiba, and IBM! 
Includes interface adapters, premium SONY 
drive, arxf complete documentatkxi. May 
require DOS 3.2 for maximum perfonnance. 
Ask about our special diskette offer! 
CALL for IMMEDIATE DEUVERY! $159.95 

Tlgertronics Inc., 2734-C Johnson Dr. 
Ventura, CA 93003 805-658-7466 or 67 



LABEL PRINTING and BAR CODE 



On Epson. Oki. IBM and LaserJet printers BKi 
TEXT ReadaUs at SO Feet Bar Codae: 

AIAG, DOO-LOGMARS. l2of5. MSI, UPC/ 
EAN. Code 39, Flexible label size/format. Color 
or B&W File input. fvlenu-Oriven $49 - $279. 
Or print from ANY program $179 - $239. 
Bar Code Readers -for PC/XT/AT PS/2 
attacfies as 2nd keytxiard: read t)ar codes 
into ANY program. External or internal PC- 
$385 PS/2-$399 30 Day $Back Guarantee 

Worttilngton Data Solutions 
417-A IngaHs St, Santa Cruz. CA 95060 
408-458-9938 



SHARE THE BENERTSI 
Try It, Then Buy It 

Try PC-Write for just $16! You'l get two 
shareware diskettes with complete word 
processor. Tutorial. & Qwck Guide. Fut reg- 
istratxxi includes 360-page manual, one year 
support & newsletter. 2 product updates, 
and shareware commissions for only $89! 
"PC-Wr«ta Is a tnie bargain, we rata It an 
excellent value." - InfoWortd, 12-22-M 

206-282-0452 ref: IWOC 
Qtiicksoft, Inc. • 219 First North 
BOX224-IWOC • Seatlto, WA 98109 



"THE BRACKET PEOPLE" 



All your bracket needs under one roof. We 
have tfie experience to save you time, and 
money. Whether a new product, or one ttiat 
is wel proven, put our experietKe to work for 
you. Unsurpassed quality, and servteo. make 
us ttie leader m this (ieM Can or send a 
sketch for quotes, or samples We wi assist 
you in any stage of design. Hundreds of starv 
dard items No order too large, or too smal. 
OLSON METAL PRODUCTS 
1001 Crossroads, Seguin, TX 78155 
512-379-7000 FAX 512-379-7197 



112 SEPTEMBER 21, 1987 



INFOWORLD 



niNVTE . HAN 

uNiNnRRumsu rowu surruis 



Reliable Power Failure Protection 

Protection From: 

• Blackouts 

• BrowTxxjts 

• OverVottage 

• Spikes 

• Surges 

• EMI/RFI 

Al Mfxiteman units teahre completely auto- 
matic operation. audUe and visual status 
Indicators and come with a ful 1 year warranty. 

PARA SYSTEMS, INC. 
1455 LMmy Dr. Carrolltan, TX 75007 
214-446-73a3 1-800-238-7272 



B VCR Up* backup 




110 megabyte 



A Ful Range of Models to Choose from 
120 Volt Model* 

250 Watt (PWM waveform) $359.00 

300 Watt (Sne wave output) $549.00 

500 Watt (PWM wavelomi) $699.00 

600 Watt (Sine wave output) $699.00 

1000 Watt (Sine wave output) $1399.00 

1200 Watt (Sine wave output) $1499.00 

Sine wave output models feature 1 msec 
switching time: PWM models feature 4 msec 
max. switching time: 230V models also avail. 

PARA SYSTEMS, INC. 
1455 LaMay Dr. Carrotlton, TX 75007 
214-446-7363 1-800-238-7272 



NEVER LOSE DATAI 

The Imager tape backup system offers cont- 
plete data protection. The Imager utilizes 
your home or business VCR and connects to 
any standard PC. The Imager offers 

sophisticated softvirare that alknvs you to 
backup or restore an entire disk with a single 
command or individual files by name or date. 
Quad redundant recording of data ensures 
data security. $295. Dealer Inquiries invited. 



outofax 



4113A Scons Valsy Drtve 
Soon* Val«y,CA 95066 406-4384661 




QUICK, EASY COMPUTER LEARNING 

Great for corporate training. Amaze yourself 
with how easy it can be to learn computers & 
software. Available tapes: INTRO TO PER- 
SONAL coMPunrw: advanced person- 
al COMPUTING: (teaming DOS): INTRO TO 
WORDPERFECT: WORDPERFECT II: INTRO 
TO LOTLS 1 -2-3 & LOTUS 1 -2-3 II. The Video 
Professor can get you up and aiming in one 
dayl r^tow yotr manual makes sense. Cai 
about yoir free VCR Or*y 49.951 To order 
1-800-225-7798 
Tlx Video Proteasor Series 
1536 Goto Blvd., Golden, CO 60401 




SAS-like power on a 256K PC! BASSBaa* 

runs many of your existing SAS programs on 
a 256K PC with 2 floppies. With BASSView. 
BASSBase has a true windowing envirorv 
ment - not a simplistic display manager. 
COMING SOON: BASSStat, expanded 
statistical procedures. 'SAS, a registered 
T.M. of SAS Institute Inc . Gary, NC. 

BASSBase/BASSVIew - $149 
BASSB as e - $95 Not copy protected. 

BASS Institute Inc. 919-489-0729 
PC Box 349, CtHfiel Ha, NC 27514 
Bidettn Board: 919-469-9685 (NA1) 




COMPUTER VIDEO INTERFACES 

The Covkl Model 460 is a digital to analog, 
RGB video Interface whKh links over 200 
PC's, graphk: workstatkms, and terminals 
to data protectors and monitors. One in an 
expanding line of interfaces, tt>e 460 trans- 
mits undistorted video over hundreds of 
feet of cable for group viewing . Automatk; 
features, whnh rniay t>e manually selected. 
Include compatibility with CGA, EGA, MDA, 
and Hercules cards. 

COV1D, me. 

2400 W. lOlh PI. #4 TEMPE, AZ 8S281 
600-638-6104 1 YR. WARRANTY 




NEWI Fractalmagic Now 
for the Macintosh 

"I can t imagine a better way to waste an 
afternoon or two. No color PCompatible 
is complete without a copy of this: get one 
and see what I mean." 

Jerry Poumelle, BYTE Magazine 
IBM CGA: $25.00 MACApple II: $25.00 
IBM EGA (pictured): $25.00 

Visa/MC/AMEX ($2.00 charge) 

SINTAR SOFTWARE 206-455-4130 
PO BOX 3746 BELLEVUE, WA 98009 





OTVj 








1 


H 


"i 


1 










M 









Your ReSume Will Open Doors! 

Create tfie winning edge with Re$ume! 
A dataliase software \ha\ highlights your 
most marketable skills. Asks all the right 
questions. Offers over 300 skills on disk. An- 
alyzes into & prints professional resumes in 
various formats Targets special jobs. Works 
with any wordprocessor and printer. For IBM 
and compatible PCs, 256K Check or CO D. 
$49 95 + $5 hdig In CaKt. add $3 sales tax. 
North Ameftcan InfoNet Box 750008 
Patakuna, OA 94975 
707-765-1999 




GigaByte Backup! 

The VAST" Device from Emerakl Systems: 
250 MBytes to 2.2 GigaBytes on a single 
cassette Managing large datasets is easy, 
with user-frierxly ASP" software, data 
transfer rates up to 1 .5 MBytes per second 
and proprietary Enw Correction for kxtg 
term data reliability. Al Industries reqiiring 
data aquisition, distxibution. and archiving 
will benefit FREE catatog on al Emerakl 
Systems' products. 

Enwfsid Syslsnis 
4757Morana SanDlaga,CAS2117 
1-8004634030 OA: 1-819-27D-1796 



l>C/XT/AT CUSTOM KEYBOARDS 

Connect our custom keytxiard interface PC 
board to your keys or ours and instal In your 
case or ours. Connects to the keytxiard port 
Each key may be custom programmed to your 
specifications Indoding macros & keytops. Use 
with the computer keytxiard or stand akxie 
External txiard (rx> skit consumed). Typical 
$500.00 one time custom prog^mming oost 
followed by low cost small or large 
production Call 714-547-0880 for quota. 

Qanest Tachndogias, Inc. 
1331 E. Edinger Ave., Santa Ana. CA 92705 

Also cmtom asaentily larguage software and spficabcm 



VIDEO LAN "LINK SYSTEM"" 



Compatible with IBM, AT4T, Apple Comp. 
The UNK Video LAN System enables the 
Instructor to have complete control of al mon- 
itors in a computer training lab. The instructor 
can 1) transmit the Instructor's image to al 
trainees, 2) monitor any trainee, 3) transmit 
any trainee image to al otfier trainee 
monitors Works with NTSC. TTL RGBI or 
RS-232-C Interfaces, any nrrtier of comput- 
ers - software ndependent lrx:feases instruc- 
tor efficiency & trainee oomprehenskxi. 
ACS 3060 Johnstown-lWca Road 
Johnstown, OH 43031 1-800-237-UNK 




QUK:K COPY 

A compact, portable disk copier that 
doesn't need a computer to operate. 
Copies disks 3 to 5 times faster than a PC~ 
makes a copy every 28 seconds! Quick 
Copy reads your original disk then auto- 
matically formats, copies, and checks each 
new disk you insert. For high volumes use 
several Quick Copies. Cuts labor costs by 
70% to 80%. One year warranty (90 days 
for drives). Introductory price of $1495. 
ALF Products Inc. 1 -800-32 1 -4888 

131SF Nalson St Denver, CO 80215 




DUETTE-FILE TRANSFER UTILITY 

DUETTE Version 2 Is a full-featured, high- 
performance (115,200 baud) serial utility 
that can transfer files in eittier direction 
tietween any IBM compatible laptop, por- 
tatile or desktop computer Including the 
PS/2 machines. DUETTE is only $49.95 
($59.95 with cable - specify computers.) 
Cet 1 -600-835-2246, ExL 333 (order desk) or 
contact: PLATTE RIVER ASSOCIATES. VHC. 
2000 West 120th Avenue, Suite 10 
Denver, CO 80234 303-469-7765 



Need a Network 
DataBase 
that Works? 



• All users can add/edit/delete records at 
thesanw time! 

• 16 simultaneous users per Mel 

• AUTOMATIC record and fie locking. 

Advanced DB Master 3.1 

ALL MENU DRIVEN, NO PROGRAMMING. 
ALL users have Invnediate access to 
informatnn wtien it is saved to disk. 
Ful Functkxi Sample version $10. 
Macon Systams, Inc. 303-520-1555 
PO Box 1388, Cdwado Springs, CO 80901 



SEPHMBER 21, 1987 113 




Mouse Cleaner 360* 
for IBM, Microsoft, and Apple 

When the rolers Inside the Mouse are dirty, 
it will not operate efficiently and It may be 
headed lor expensive repairs or premature 
replacement Mouse Cleaner 360" s patent- 
ed Vetero Scrubber Bal, Board, and Flukl are 
specially designed to dean the IBM PS/2. 
Mx70soft, and /Vpple mouse rolers quKkly 
and easily. Retail priced at $16.95. Contact 
your dealer or distributor. 
ERGOTRON, INC. 1621 E. 79th St 

Minnaapoiis, MN 55420 800-328-9839 




Data Collection 



Netvrork up to 255 of our data colection 
tenninals on your PC Inventory. Productxm 
Control. Quality Measurement. Tne Keeping. 
Order Entry. ShopAoor. 

Our Network Software lets you define 
apptcations to meet your needs. 

• Bar Code entry • aiteractrve piumptug 

• verified data entry • networks to a PC 

• prompts user-defined Frsa 

• low oost data colection Demo Disk 

813-873-7288 
Armis-MIHer Systams Inc. 
3300 Henderson, Tampa, R 33809 



INPOMARKET 




DAMAGED DATABASE? 

OuicKFix-2, fixes dBASE II. III. & 111 + 
databases It win reset the record counter 
and EOF marker, replace corrupted headers, 
replace bad bytes, perform offsets to align 
data, arxl list bad records Interactive help 
Tfte July 1987 DataBased Advisor Review 
calls QuickFix-2 an excellent product' 
Requires DOS 2 0+ and 192K RAM 
$29 00 ind S/H Add $1 74 tax in CA 
HILCO Software 707-829-5011 
11 266 Bamett Valley Road 
Sebastopd. CA 95472 



TAME YOUR PC 

A backup utility shoukl not |ust make life 
more secure, it should make We easier Does 
yours' SyiKhromesh does A DOS shell 
should not Just make your PC or compatible 
easier to use. it should also get out of your 
way wittxHjt your fiaving to ask. Does yours? 
Synchromesh does We crossed ttie idea of 
a backup utility with that of a DOS shell to 
get Synctirometh. Call for more information 
about tfie new generation. Ask for Sam, 
Spoon Software, Inc. 
Box 119, Northboro, MA 01532 
617-393-9383 800-666-1211 



Asyndironous Communications 
FOR dBASE/Clipper 

Data Base Programmers: We speak your 
language. SitverComm. the comprehensive 
communications lilxary supports. SIMULTA- 
NEOUS buffered I/O to {COI^1/COI^2). 
XMODEM file transfer, modem/line status 
functKXis. terminal emulation & more, at 
baud rates up to 19 2K NO ROYALTIES. 
Available for Clipper. dBASEIII + . FoxBASE 4 . 
dSXL & QUICKSILVER CONNECT with 
SitverComm $149.95 + S/H. (FREE demo). 
Silverware Inc. 214-902-0227 
P.O.Box 761143 Dallas, TX 75378 



Protect Management Qraphicst 

CustomGantt - Presentation quality Gantt 
Chan plotter software for only $95 If you 
need sophisticated Gantt charts for presen- 
tations and proposals, you don't have to boy 
expensive cntkal path analysis software 
CustomGantt is easy to use and works vnth 
most plotters, including large drafting ptot- 
ters Verskxis for PC-DOS. MS-DOS. Unix. 
Xenix Unix and Xenix prices start at $125. 
SofTrak Systems, Inc. 
Box 16750, SaRUkeClty, UTS4116 
801-973-9610 



"When you first suggested 
we use InfoMarket to sell 
the multiuser Pick Operat- 
ing System we weren't 
sure we could effectively 
reach our profiled buyer. 
I'm glad to say that you 
were right. The response 
was tremendous! We have 
received hundreds of calls 
from businesses and 
developers all across the 
U.S..." 



Doug Deitel 

Rapid Software Systems 
□ans Ftoint. Cb 



Your 

Ad 
In This 



Call 415/328-4602, 
800/227-8365 
(in Calif., 800/344-4636). 



InfoMarket 

Ad Specifications: 

Standard format tnchxles 1 line txM 
headline @ 25 upper-case characters or 
28 upper/lower case characters (includ- 
ing spaces). 10 lines copy @ 
approximately 40 characters per line. 2 
address lines @ 28 upper-case 
characters or 35 upper/kjwer case. 
Include 35mm cokx slide or suitable 
earner a-^^ady tjlack & white material of 
your product or kjgo. 

For more information call 
415/328-4602, 800/227-6365; 
in California, 800/344-4636. 
Mail copy, slide and payment to: 

InfoWoHd 

InfoMarlcet 

1060 Marsh Road, Suite C-200 
Menio Park, CA 94025 



InfoMarket Advertising 



<1 



Frequency 


Cost Per Insertion 


3X 


$495.00 


6X 


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13X 


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26X 


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SIX 


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m 



Issue No. 


Cover Date 


Ad Close 


#40 


10/5 


9/16 


#41 


10/12 


9/23 


#42 


10/19 


9/30 


#43 


10/26 


10/7 


#44 


11/2 


10/14 


#45 


11/9 


10/21 


#46 


11/16 


10/28 


#47 


11/23 


11/4 


#48 


11/30 


11/10 


#49 


12/7 


11/18 


#50 


12/14 


11/25 


#51 


12/21 


12/2 


#52/1 


12/28 


12/9 



114 SEPHMBERll, 1987 



aterial 



1-* 



INFOWORLD 



NDRc MAIL ORDER house 




MONITORS 

nu Amber $ 78.00 

Composite Mon>ior (green) $ 60.00 

RGB 600 « 240 S240.00 

Tatunj EGA Monitor S4I5.00 

Tajun 770 Multisync SS49 99 

VIDEO CONTROLLERS 

■cutes Compatible - PTR S 47 00 

Colo» » Composite $ 42.00 

Boca EGA 640 > 350 SI60.00 

Genoa EGA* 640x480 S325 00 

Genoa Super EGA 800 x 600 S425-00 

IBM- EGA (recond ) S189-00 

IBM- PGA 1000x800 S7M.00 



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CXI 3270. 3278. 5251 CALL 



DRIVES 

40 Mb '/4 Ht. 38 m» 

20 Mb 'A Ht. 60 mt 

30 Mb BLL Kit * Cent 
80/120 Mb fl Mt. 28 ms 
40 Mb 10 ms Core 
360K •/! Mt Fuji/Teac 
3V5- 700K/1 4 Mb 
1 2 Mb S'/.- Taac 
FDC/CooyllPCOpt 
NDRC Controller/ XT 

Cableset 
NDRC Maximiier (200%) 
AT« Controller/ AT Obies 

AT PARTS 

286 Motherboard 10 MHz 
0-2 Mb RAM Cards 
4 Port Senal Board 
Premium 3 Bay Case 
Clone IBM" Model 80 Vert«al 

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XT PARTS 

0-640 + Bioa $ 74.00 

10 MHl Super Tuitoo 2 Layer tIM.OO 
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Disk I/O ♦ Soft 
Modem 12/2400 
Clock * Soft 
0-576 RAM CarrJ 
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MultiFunc V Soft 
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XT Slide Case 
XT Flip top case 
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REPRESENTATIVES 



National Advertisinf! Director: Stan Vanocur; Administrative 
Assistant: Cindy Guerra, 1060 Marsh Road, Suite C-200, Menlo Park, 
CA 94025. (415) 328-4602; (800) 227-8365. In California (800) 344- 
4636. FAX # (415) 328-1049. 

Northern California: Pamela Rock, Regional Manager; Kelly 
Newcomb. Sales Support, InfoWorld, 1060 Marsh Road, Suite C-200, 
Menlo Park, CA 94025. (415) 328-4602. (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, 
Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, British Columbia) 
Southern California /Los Angeles & Santa Barbara Counties: 
Karen Niles, Regional Manager; Mary Bucci, Sales Support, InfoWorld, 
11835 West Olympic Blvd., Suite 835 East, Los Angeles, CA 90064. 
(213) 312-8018. (Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada. New Mexico.Southern 
California) 

Southern California/San Diego & Orange Counties: Joe Kerwin, 
Regional .Manager; Jill Stevens. Sales Support, InfoWorld, 18004 Sky 
Park Circle, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92714. (714) 250-1305. (Colorado, 
Southern California, Utah) 

New England: John Moon, Regional Manager; Jacki Demasi, Sales 
Support, InfoWorld, 375 Cochituate Road, Framingham, MA 01701. 
(617) 879-0700; (800) 343-6474. (Maine, Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire. Connecticut. Western New York. Rhode Island. Vermont. 
Quebec) 

Mid-Atlantic: Harry Versen. Regional Manager; Denise Meininger. 
Roseann LaBruno, Sales Support, InfoWorld, Paramus Plaza I, 140 
Route 17 North. Paramus. NJ 07652. (201) 967-1350. (Delaware. 
Maryland. New Jersey. Eastern New York. Pennsylvania. Washington, 
D.C., W. Virginia) 

Midwest: Michael Salberg, Regional Manager; Mary Collins, Sales 
Support, 1 Northbrook PI., Suite 200, Northbrook. IL 60062. (312) 
564-7767. (Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, 
Minnesota. Missouri, N. Dakota. Nebraska. Ohio. S. Dakota. Wisconsin, 
Alberta. Manitoba. Ontario. Saskatchewan) 

Southeast: Rex Walker, Regional Manager; Sara Neuman, Sales 
Support, InfoWorld, 1400 Lake Heam Drive, Suite 330, Atlanta, GA 
30319. (404) 252-5008. (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi. North 
Carolina, South CaroUna. Tennessee, Virginia) 

Southwest: Mike Sullivan, Regional Manager, Reinelle Hicks, Sales 
Support, 14651 Dallas Parkway, Suite 304, Dallas, TX 75240, (214) 
233-3498. (Arkansas, Louisiana. Oklahoma. Texas) 
InfoMarket Advertising Media Developers: Jo-Ann Sturtridge. 
Deborah Tarantino. National 800-227-8365. California 800-344-4636, 
Martha Wilkins, National and California 800-262-8277. 



InfoWorld Editorial Calendar 



OCTOBER — DECEMBER 1987 



Issue 
No. 

40 
41 
42 
43 

44 
45 
46 
4 

48 

49 

50 
51 

52 & 1* 



Publication Product Comparisons 
Date 



Oct. 5 
Oct. 12 
Oct. 19 
Oct. 26 

Nov. 2 
Nov. 9 
Nov. 16 
Nov. 23 
Nov. 30 

Dec. 7 

Dec. 14 
Dec. 21 
Dec. 28 



Laser Printers 

Executive Word Processors 

DOS Utilities 

Video Boards (VGA/Expanded EGA) 
386 Compatibles 

Spreadsheets and Expert Systems 
Accounting Software and DOS Shells 
Flat-File and Free-Form Databases 
PC/XT Compatibles 

Communications Software 
(Macintosh Supplement - Databases) 
Expanded Memory Boards 
Desktop Publishing Software 
Laser Printers 



Closing 
Dates 

Sept. 23 
Sept. 30 
Oct. 7 
Oct. 14 

Oct 21 
Oct. 28 
Nov. 4 
Nov. 10 
Nov. 18 

Nov. 25 

Dec. 2 
Dec. 9 
Dec. 16 



♦Combined Issue 



INFO 



WORLD 



NEVUS 

wEB<iy 



ADVERTISING INDEX 



I SI Run 105 

.V6 Compulers 103 

.Acer Technology 44-45 

Acomm Hlectronics 107 

Advanced Software Design 106 

Amdek Corporation 78 

Americal Group 108 

American Micro Technology 60-61 

Anchor Automation 31 

Ashion-Tate 7.76-77 

Aspen Associates 107 

AST Research 33 

Autofax 107 

Baby Micro 105 

Barrington 120 

Berkeley 106 

Boeing 66 

Borland Inlcmalional 2 

Brubaker Software 106 

Cad/Cam International 105 

California Software 106 

Company Compendia. Inc 105 

CompuDala Translators 105 

Computer Conversions 105 

Computer Midwest 103 

Computer Rjinl 103 

Computer Systems ftrsonified 104 

Conversm Specialists 105 

Convenype Computers 105 

Cribshccl 107 

DAC Soft ware 81 

Dam Bank 102 

Data Bureau 108 

Datahormals 105 

Datalec Services 107 

Dauilrusi 107 

DavRo Software 87 

Denpaul 107 

Desktop Pubhshcrs 108 

Digital Research 70,71 

DIskaus 107 

Durable Solutions 102 

Ellech Research 52-53 

Hvcrc.x 20-2 1 

Executive Systems 22 

Expansion Products 104 

Rfth Generation 43 

Font Center 107 

Gibson Research 87 

Golden Computer 105 

Hayes Microcomputer 54 

Hicc & Associates 107 

Hyundai 72-73 

liar Systems 107 

Incomm 103 

Inlelligent Micro Systems 80 

Irv Brechner 108 

Laser Friendly 39 

Lifetime Memory Products 119 

Lious. The 103 

Lite ftn 103, 107 

MCS Systems 107 

MDS 104 

M J Gross 105 

Maxamedia 107 

Megasoft 108 

Micro Corp 105 

Micro Electronic 108 

Micrografx 118 

Microprocessors Unltd 103 

Microrim 59 

MTI Systems 50 

Nastersift 107 

Oracle 9 

Olrona Liquidation 107 

Paul Mace Software 30 

E*C American 101 

PC Connection 27,28-29 

PC Pros 104 

ftrcon 102 

Peter Norton 4 

Pillarco 108 

Pivar 105 

Practical ftrpherals 38 

Princeton 108 

Protege 48 

Quarterdeck 106 

Ram Explosion 104 

Rose 105 

Saba Technologies 64-65 

Safcware 107 

Schnapp 106 

Shamrock Computers 49 

Softlogic Solutions 12-13 

Software Publishing 40 

Softway 102 

Starb>1e 107 

Storage Data 104 

Storage Dimensins 104 

System 3 102 

Tandon 17 

Text Sciences 105 

Thomson Consurtwr 6 

Toshiba America 10,75 

Trillian 68-69 

Univation 46 

VNUb/Research Infl 105 

Vesta 105 

Victory Enterprises 107 

Video 7 18 

Vivid Systems 84 

Wells American 15 

Western Transdata 106 

WordPerfect 34 

Zebra 108 

ZyUb 42 

This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does no< 
assume any liability for errors or omissions. 



11* SOTUUn 21, 1917 



INFO 
WORLD 



ISIews 



117 



Phoenix Introduces BIOS 
For Speedier Processors 



Datran Product to Double 
Hard Disk Storage Capacity 



Bringing the IBM PS/2 ime step 
cidscr to cloning. Phoenix Tech- 
nologies Ltd last week an- 
nounced Basic Input/Output 
System (BIOS) software that 
supports several PS/2 features, 
but not IBM's Mkro Channel 
Aidiitecture. 

Phoenix said its Hybrid 
ROM BIOS Plus suptxnts the 
1.44-megabyte and 720K 
diskette drives and VGA graph- 
ics available throughout the 
re/2 line. Hybrid also supports 
the RLl . SCSI, and ESDI-based 
hard disk controllers available 
for some PS/2 models 

Jonathan Joseph, director ot 
compatibility software products 



Lttus 

Goulde, of Boston's Yankee 
Group, said Lotus needed to 
counter the pending release of 
Microsoft's PC Excel and Bor- 
land's Quattro spreadsheets, 
neither of which will be copy- 
protected Also. Paperback Soft- 
ware of Berkeles. California, is 
dropping copy protection on 
Lotus rival VP-Planner. (Sec 
stor>. Page 5.) 

Many users were predictaMy 
pleased with the dedsion. "If s 
about time," said Brian Tnihn, 
a systems analyst with RNC 
Cv^xa Management Co., in 
Los Angeles, who said his com- 
pany's users still have to deal 
with the key disk requirements 
of 1-2-3, Version lA. Until 



Windows 

Release 1.04. Wndows 386 will 
aho offer an 80386 control 
software featuie to set up nu- 
merous virtual 8086 systems, a 

technique that implements the 
80386 chip's 8086 virtual mode 
for multitasking of old PC appli- 
cations, as Microsoft officials 
explained in previewing the 
product earlier this year. (See 
"Microsoft Puts Windows 386 
on Displav." March 2.) 

Current applications such as 
Lotus 1-2-3. which demand an 
entire window in Windows 1.04. 
can even ran in the background 
because it q>pears to have sole 
access to the processor. 

One analyst suggested 
Microsoft is positioning 386 
Windows to supercede OS/2, as 
ahedgein case IBM goes oft'in a 
proprietary direction with its 
version or is late with its release. 

Among the third-party an- 
nouncements Wednesdav: 

• Adding to us line of 

Windows products is Micro- 



for Phoenix, said the Hybrid is 
compatible with either the IBM 
PC AT BIOS or the Phoenix 
BIOS for Intel 80386-based ma- 
chines, as used in the new Tandy 
Corp. Model 4000. When used 
in an 80386-based machine, it 
supports speeds up to 23 MHz, 
he added. 

Phoenix aho announced a 
number of other PC AT-com- 
patible BIOS programs, which 
manufacturers of IBM-standard 
computers license and bum into 
ROM in their machines. 

One of the programs sup- 
ports the Intel 802X6 micropro- 
cessor running up to 16 MHz 
with no wait states, while 



Lotus recently adopted a more 
transparent form of copy 
protection, users had to lceq> tfkc 
original 1-2-3 disk in a drive to 
run the program. 

"The user community had an 
impact" by its complaints, said 
Jerry Schneider, president of the 
Washington-based Capitol PC 
User Group. Now vendors and 
user groups must educate the 
public not to pirate software, 

Pii"ac\ concerns. howe\er. 
made sc\cral corporate micro- 
computer managers uneasy. 
"To control a function that's 
uncontrollable, copy protection 
helps us," said Danielle Barr, 
vice president for automatiott 
planning at Bank of New 
England. Barr is concerned that 
"sloppy" users might duplicate 
a legal copy of ! -2-^ rather than 
busing their ov\n. 

By changing the key disk 



grafx of Richardson, lexas. 
which will announce Windows 
Designer, a vector-oriented 
combination drawing and draft- 
ing prc^am. The S()95 product 
supports scanned or bit-mapped 
imported images, edits polygons 
and curves by individual points, 
supports spline and peiabdic 
drawing as well as geometric 
standards, and allows text and 
graphics rotation as well as text 
editing and labeling, said Paul 
Grayson. Micrografx president. 

•An update of Actor, a pro- 
gram development environment 
from The Whitewater Group of 
Evanston, Illinois The new 
Version I.I is fully enmpatible 
with Windows 2.0 and other 
prior releases, and it adds LIM 
EMS 4.0 support; a debugging 
window; a change-logging 
featurr, a smaller, faster ran 
time; and an additional 90K of 
memory for programming, 
which lets users design ""signiri- 
cantly larger applications," said 
CEO Mark Achler, 

•Scan-Do. a $195 software 
package that lets user edit gray- 
scale images entered from a 
scanner, from Hammerlab 



another supports 80386-based 

systems at up to 25 MHz. the 
company said. Though he ac- 
knowledged that no \ endor yet 
markets an 80386 that runs at 
25 MHz. Joseph said the BIOS 
b ready and waiting. 

Also announced were ROM 
BIOS Plus \ersions for laptop 
PC compatibles, diskless work- 
stations, network servers, the 
Chips & Technologies Inc. 16- 
MHz AT chip set. and 80386- 
based machines using the Intel 
82380 chip, according to 
Phoenix. 

The laptop version offers 
additional support for low-pow- 
er-constimplion devices and 
state-of-the-an IX Ds. .Another 
ROM BIOS Plus version works 
with Chips and Technologies' 
80386 chip set. 

Phoenix lechnologies I td.. 
320 Norwood Park S., Nor- 
wood, MA 02062; (617) 769- 
7020. 



requirement to a more transpar- 
ent copy protection scheme, 
Lotus lud already answaed 
concerns of Bob Mariin, execu- 
tive support systems manager at 
Eaton Corp., in Qeveland. He 
said he has to track several 
thousand copies of 1-2-3 and 
Symphony, a harder task when 
the disks can be freely copied. 

.•\nal\st Goulde said Lotus 
will not lose sales to pirates, but 
he expects vendors of copy 
protection-defeating software to 
be the real victims of Lotus' 
action. 

But Craig Gilbert, a partner 
in an Atlanta-based 1-2-3 after- 
maiket developer, warned that 
"this dropping of copy protec- 
tion is going to hurt them." 
Gilbert said his Front Row 
Systems company has encoun- 
tered a number of corporate 
1-2-3 inrates. 



Corp. of New Ha\ en. Connecti- 
cut The package, which will 
ship at fall Comdex, can import 
a \arict> of file formats and 
supports most popular scanners, 
said company president Brian 
Hamroerstein. 

• DaVinci Systems of 
Raleigh, North Carolina, win 
demonstrate a Windows-based 
E-Mail program designed to run 
on IBM Token Rings. The 
program, announced last year, 
will cost $99 per workstation. 
(See "Firm Announces Win- 
dows-Based t:-.Mail Program." 
May 4.) 

•Palantir of Houston will 
ha\e 10 Windows 2,0 applica- 
tions running by the end ol the 
year, said Wondra Chang, mar- 
keting operations manager. Cur- 
rent programs will be upgraded 
to Windows 2.0. The $195 
single-user Wintime, an ap- 
pointment/calendar manager, 
and the $ 1 .200-per-server 
Nettime. a L\N version of 
Wintime. will be available next 
month. Other products to fol- 
low include the unpriced Win- 
text. VVinpaint. V\incalc. V\in- 
font, and Winscan, Chang said. 



By Mark Brovynstein 

A hardware/software combina- 
tion that will double the storage 
capacity of hard disk drives will 
be announced by Dattan Corp. 
at Comdex. 

The Diskdoubler uses a pro- 
prietary compression algorithm 
stored on the board to compress 
dan written to the hard drive 
and a decompression algorithm 
to expand the data to its original 
form when it is read from disk. 

The Diskdoubler performs 
the data compression/expansion 
faster than any software de- 
signed to perform the same 
function, according to Otto 
Cen/ano, Datran vice president 
of engineering. The card, w hich 
works on any PC, XT. AT, or 
compatible computer, fits in a 
short slot in the system. 

The Diskdoubler is compati- 
Ue with any hard drive con- 



Word 



Continued From Page 1 



inch but can adjust line spacing 
in vco' small increments. 

To slay on shipping schedule. 
Word Perfect will delay adding 
outlining and other user re- 
quests to this version, Ashton 
added. 

Easier file sharing over net- 
works is provided, as the pro- 
gram stores de&ult settings of 
each file in a %peml file hnder 
that is retained as the file moves 
in a work group. In the current 
version, a document could 
change in appearance by users 
with different margin settings. 

Other versions of Word Per- 
fect in development. Ashton 
said, include: 

•The OS/2 version, which — 
like most other \crsions — is 
being written in assembly for 
speed. Ashton said. Phase I will 
be a character-based product, 
and Phase 2 will use the Presen- 
tation Manager environment 



Paradox 

Continued From Pag* 1 



Borland. 

The first product to ship will 
be a 386 version of Paradox 2.0. 
Using the Phar Lap DOS Ex- 
tender package, the program 
will break the 640K memoiy 
barrier, permitting users to cre- 
ate databases of up to 16 mega- 
bytes. In addition, the program 
will take advantage of the im- 
proved instruction set of the 
80386, further enhancing speed 
performance. 

"We are not talking about 
something that will be ready 
sometime next year." said 
Borland president Philippe 
Kahn, "All the tools are in 



trollcr and works with anv hard 
disk. The Diskdoubler does not 
require reformatting the disk. 
"When y ou install Diskdoubler. 
it can tell whether a I lie has been 
compressed when it reads it. If it 
can be compressed when written 
back to the disk, the board will 
do that," Cenzatto said. Since 
the product does not inoease 
the amount of data actually 
stored on the hard disk, the 
problem of exceeding the 32- 
megabyte DOS limit for a hard 
drive is avoided. The drive does 
not change the niimher of bits 
actually stored on a hard disk, 
instead it packs more informa- 
tion in the same dri\e space. 

The suggested list price of the 
Diskdoubler is $295. 

Dalian Corp.. 2505 Foothill 
Blvd.. La Crescenta. CA 91214; 
(818) 248-8780. 



scheduled for OS/2 I . I . He said 

the printer program will be 
taken out of Word Perfect itself 
and made a separate task under 
the multitasking OS/2, which 
will let users exit Word Perfect 
without aborting printing. Such 
convenience might also be add- 
ed to future DOS versions, he 
said. 

• rile Macintosh \crsion. 
which IS now due (or release in 
mid-November. It will lack sort 
and table authorities features 
found in the PC version. 4.2, but 
Ashton said the Mac version 
"has a Version 6.0 look and 
feel." Exotic features include the 
capability to place graphic im- 
ages in a footnote, he said. 

•A Unix version, written in 
C rather than the usual assem- 
bler, due out first on the NCR 
Tower and Hewlett-Packard 
.''OUO series and available in 
March, \shton said. 

• 1 nhancements to the Word 
Perfect Network Libran. pack- 
age, adding electronic mail and 
calendar functions, due out in 
the fust quarter of 1988. 



place, and this will ship by the 
end of this calendar year." 
Benchmarks on beta versions of 

the program show it is about 
five times faster than Paradox 
2.0 running on a Compaq 
Deskpro .^K(i. he adtlcd. 

Versions of Par.idox for OS/ 
2. Presentation Manager. Win- 
dows 2.0. and Unix, as well as 
support for SQL. will be avail- 
able during the first half of 1 988. 
officials said. 

To bind these products with 
the Borland line, the company is 
working on a developers' tool 
that will allow programmers to 
write Paradox applications us- 
ing Borland Turbo languages. 
The linking tool will be an 
extension to the programming 
language that will include 
Paradox statements, said Kahn. 



CopyiiyiitcJ iiidtuiial 



Not:es From 
t:he Field ^ 



Robert: X. Cringely 

Forgive Us, Lord, We Know Not What They Do 




The Pope was in town, my mailbox was 
full of overdue bills, and I had a 
hangover. It was the perfect recipe for 
guilt. Faced with the prospect of actually 
changing my lifestyle or simply seeking 
absolution. I chose the latter and headed 
for my first visit to the confessional since 
the morning after that night in the 
Summer of '59. 

MINNINe OUf or TWO-DICIT NUMIERS. I 

told the priest about the PS/2 Model 90. 
which I had heard was about to pop from 
Big Blue's labs. It's a dual-processor 
machine with an 80386 and a RISC chip, 
mavbe even the same one used in the PC 



RT. ("You must be certain, my son," 
said Father Rynn.) Taking advantage of 
the Micro Channel bus' coprocessing 
capabilities, the Model 90 is supposed to 
run with virtually all OS/2 software, 
using OS/2's interprocess commun- 
ication pipelines to throw graphical and 
other number crunching back on the 
RISC chip while the 20-MHz 80386 
manages the show. Expect to pay 
$ 1 5.000 for this honey. Ouch! 

OS/2 ro YOU, fOO. I told him the parable 
of the 200,000 OS/2 disks that have been 
waiting piously in shrinkwrap for lo. 
these two months in some IBM ware- 



house in South Carolina. Either these 
disks are junk. or. as I told the good 
Father, the OS/2 that some developers 
have found to be less than quick is gonna 
be the OS/2 for the rest of us. too. 

WHAT MD YOU DO THIS SUMMER? Seeking 
to share the burden of imperfection. I 
told the Padre that Microsoft can't call its 
new Works program PC Works because 
that name is already held by Touchstone 
Software. Some Microsoft marketing 
interns, it seems, cut class the day they 
talked about trademarks. 

■Uf CilN Hf TVK? Two weeks ago. I 



We Do Windows 

Choose from a Complete Family of Windows 
compatible Graphics Applications. 



Micrografx is the 
premier developer of 
graphics applications 
compatible with Microsoft 
Windows. And Windows 
DRAW. Windows GRAPH, 
and ln*a*Vision are 
recognized as the leading 
graphics applications in the 
industry. 

Windows DRAW is a busi- 
ness drawing and presenta- 
tion graphics program, 
which includes over ICKK) 
predefined clip an images 
Windows DRAW was raced 
as the number one free-fonn 
graphics program by Soft- 
ware Digest (Dec.. 1986) 
and is sold internationally 
by Microsoft. 



Windows GRAPH is a business graphics and charting program, and is 
the newest member of the Micrografx family. With Windows GRAPH, 
you can create an unlimited variety of area, bar. column, line. pie. 
scatter, combination, and table graphs. Use existing spreadsheet data 
or enter data directly to create a stunning array of two- and three-di- 
mensional color graphics. Then enhance your charts with ftee-form 
drawings, multi-font text and clip an. 

In*a*VisicHi is a powerful, easy-to-use Computer Aided E)esign (CAD) 
program. In*a*Vision was the first Windows-compatible program and 
according to PC Magazine (June. 1987), "[n*a*Vision is still the best 
Windows- specific application." In*a*Vision is ideal for design profes- 
sionals. Whether you are creating complex technical drawings, sche- 
matics, flowchans. floor plans, organization charts or designing your 
own new kitchen, In*a* Vision makes your job easier. 




Each Micrografx application 
is compatible with Microsoft 
Windows. And compatibil- 
ity with Windows today 
guarantees an easy upgrade 
path to the Windows of to- 
morrow. 

With Windows, each Micro- 
grafx application can run in 
a window simultaneously 
with any other Windows ap- 
plication. And Micrografx' 
applications are data com- 
patible with all other Win- 
dows applications through 
the Windows Clipboard. A 
common user-interface, pull- 
down menus, mouse sup- 
port, shared device drivers 
and our common "object- 
OTienied" file structure gives 
you consistent ease-of-use 
and top-quality output Our PostScript and PageMaker compatibility 
means that all of the graphics you create are perfect for desktop and 
professional publishing. 

In addition, Micrografx offers Windows ClipAn with over 1000 busi- 
ness-oriented images and CAD ClipAn with over 1 000 images from 
the architectural, electrical, chemical, and mechanical engineering 
fields. And through Windows CONVERT, your graphics are fully 
compatible with the AutoCAD dau exchange format (DXF). 

For additional information about how to put Micrografx to work for 
you, call your local authorized dealer, or contact Micrografx toll-free, 
at 800-272-DRAW (in Texas 214-234-1769) or write to Micrografx 
Inc., 1820 N. Greenville Ave., Richardson Texas 75081. Call today 
and let Micrografx take the dirty woiit out of doing Windows. 



MICROGRAFX 

The Picture of Success 




Supports the IBM AT standard 





Supports the new IBM PS/2 standard 



Tn« loiKmv>a 4 nWnM i.lt n i nj ick^Vifl ngiVm^ «nd i^r^g W rtd tr, 
WindoM DAAW WmOowt QftAPH Utmgnft IOC PiggWlOir, AIM COfpOOMV 



an Whkm Cl«lkn wmdoM C*D O-pArt Window CONVERT 

AuuCAO. Ins ' twr w t iegnt.. me 



sobbed. I wrote about how Microsoft had 
used faulty arithmetic in calculating the 
percentage of defective mice shipped by 
the company, only to have a number of 
readers point out that my numbers were 
wrong, too. "Recalculate and make 
amends." said Father Flynn. So I fired- 
up the InfoM'iirld biomass-powered Cray 
and learned that .005 percent of 500.000 
mice is 25 mice, not 2.500 mice as I said. 
Then a Microsoft dealer called, claiming 
that Redmond won"t accept returns of 
faulty mice, so how can they even figure 
the failure rate? 

Among my other sins of days past. I 
said that Microsoft would introduce 
Windows 2.0 and Windows Excel this 
week. WRONG! It's Windows 386 that's 
coming, with Windows 2.0 and Windows 
Excel coming in a few weeks. The push 
for Windows 386 apparently has to do 
with Compaq needing it for the 20-MHz 
Compaq 386 that will be introduced 
September 29. 

Windows 386, by the way. may run 
like a son of a gun on the Compaq 386. 
but it won't run at all on the PS/2 Model 
80 — at least not yet. 

BIYTH SPIRITS. \ major sin this week was 
the way I forced a source close to Blyth 
Software to tell me all about Omnis 
Quartz, their new super database. Even 
Father Rynn was impressed by the 
context-sensitive help windows and scroll 
boxes. The program also features the 
capability to import data from another 
application into those scroll boxes, 
customizable drop-down menus, and an 
"incredible" reports generator. Look for 
this one to appear before the end of the 
year in a single-user version for $795. 
with a multiuser package coming in early 
"88. followed by a PC/Windows version 
and a Mac version that will be able to 
simultaneously access the same data over 
a Tops network or equivalent. 

f«T FRUIT. By this time. Father Flynn 
probably needed a database to keep track 
of all my accumulated bad vibes, or 
maybe he needed a Macintosh II -H 
(that's right, Mac \\ + ). Look for this 
baby next year, with a 68030 running at 
18.4 MHz and a sufKjrfast graphics board 
from Motorola that uses 16 of the new 
68882 floating-point coprocessors to 
drive a 1.280-by-960 Sony display that 
even Steve Jobs might respect. 

Not that Steve is above consorting 
with the enemy, either. Several sources 
wanted to be the first to tell me about 
Next's secret pact with Atari for some 
sharing of custom graphics chips. Look 
for the first product of this unholy 
alliance at Atari's Comdex booth. 

Y04I UN DRESS 'EM UP ... "Are all of these 
personal computer people as bad as 
you?" asked Father Flynn. What could 1 
say? I told the good father about Philippe 
Kahn's performance at Borland's first 
press conference since concluding its 
merger with Ansa. Dressed in a blue suit 
and a loud tie, Kahn said that while 
Borland is going strongly after the 
Fortune 1000 market now, "This doesn't 
mean we'll be a bunch of corporate 
a*'*****, just that I will wear a tie to 
press conferences." 

"Did he really say a*****"?" asked 
Father Flynn. 

Put your hand on the telephone and be 
healed by calling me at 14 1 51 328-4602. 
or drop your troubles on MCI: CRINGE. 





I 





Our kits come complete with all the 
components that you need to install 
a hard drive, including controller 
card, mounting hardware, cables, 
software, and illustrated manual. 

20MBMiniScrib€, 85ms S319 

20MB Seagate, 65ms $335 

30MB MiniScribe, 85ms $415 

30MB Seagate, 65ms $415 





The ScribeCards by MiniScribe are 
shock mounted, fast-access-time 
hard drives mounted on a controller 
card. 

Scribe 20MB, 68ms $399 

Scribe 30MB, 68ms $429 




Our AT drives come with data cable, 
mounting slides and manual for 
quick installation. Reliability is our 
guarantee. 

Regular AT: 

20MB Seagate, 65ms $295 

30MB Seagate, 40ms $485 

40MB MiniScribe, 61ms $429 

High Capacity /High Performance: 

40MB MiniScribe, 28ms $579 

71MB MiniScribe, 28ms $879 

40MB Seagate, 40ms $495 

80MB Seagate, 28ms $895 




Assured Quality 

60-Day Money Back Guarantee 



External hard drives include high 
capacity/ high performance hard 
drive, 45-watt power supply, and 
fan. 

40MB MiniScribe $698 

71MB MiniScribe $998 

80MB Seagate $1014 



LIFETIME BACKUP 
UTILITIES: 
Free with every Purchase. 
Backs up, restores, compares 
your files safely and FASTI 



All of our tape backup systems 
support unattended backups allow 
image and file-by-file backup, 
allow backups to multiple tapes for 
unlimited backup, and use rugged 
DC2000 or DC6000 cartridges. The 
internal systems fit in a half-height 
slot. 

20MB Internal Tallgrass . $389 

60MB Internal Wangtek $749 

60MB External $827 





PC/XT FLOPPY/HARD DISK: 
From Xebec. Supports 360KB 
floppiesand two hard disks $89 

PC HARD DISK: 

From Western Digital. Supports 
two 

hard disks in your PC or XT $79 

AT DUAL FLOPPY/HARD DISK: 
From Western Digital. Supports 
two 360KB or 1.2MB floppies and 
two hard disks $159 

Lifetime Memory Products 
12611 Research Blvd. #400 
Ausrin, TX. 78759 
National Sales Staff: 
1-800-234-4442 Outside Texas 
1-512-335-8394 Inside Texas 
1-512-335-7598 Technical Support 



THIS IS ONE OF 
dBase's SAMPLE 
PROGRAMS. 



this is the same 
program, but 
clarionized: 



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kstiutien Citj; 



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MAYBE THE "d" STANDS FOR DULL 



Now you can make an absolutely painless 
migration from "dull" to CLARION! 

The new CLARION Data Base Three Language 
Extension Module (LEM) lets you use dBase III® 
files as if they were CLARION files. 

We call this simultaneous compatibility. 

You'll want CLARION because it offers a 2 to 10 
fold increase in productivity. And a quantum leap 
in coding efficiency. 

You see, CLARION is an easy-to-learn, 
full-function, procedural lan- 
guage augmented by automatic 
screen and report generation 
utilities. 

So now sparkling CLARION 
applications can peacefully 
coexist with your dBase III ® 
applications, sharing the same data files — while the 
dBase files remain in their original format. 

The Data Base Three LEM preserves your 
investment in existing .PRC modules while 
allowing you to create new applications with 
CLARION. 

And when you are ready to go 100% CLARION, 
you can use CLARION'S Converter utility to easily 

CLARION' 

from BARRINGTON SYSTEMS, INC. 




convert dBase HI® .DBFs. 

You can rapidly create custom application 
programs that exactly match specifications. 

These CLARIONIZED™ applications look 
terrific, as you can see above. 

Moreover, they were prototyped, tested, and 
running — all in a fraction of the time you used to 
spend on less ambitious prc^ams. 

And with our Translator add-on ($95), your 
CLARION applications can be distributed as 
executable programs 
(.EXEs). Compare that price 
with Clipper®! 

So, if your commercial 
micro applications are 
written in dBase® and you 
could use a day off once in a 
while, capture the very real productivity advantage 
CLARION users enjoy. 

CLARION at $395 and the CLARION Data Base 
Three LEM at $49.95, run on any IBM® PC, XT, 
AT, PS/2, or true compatible with 320KB of 
memory and a hard disk drive. 

To order CLARION or to get detailed 
information, simply call... 



dBase Ui 
PROMAM 




dBase IH 
DATA 

nil 




OiunoN 

nOGMM 







150 EAST SAMPLE ROAD 



POMPANO BEACH, ROMDA 33064-3597 



305/785-4555 



CLARION Is a registered trademark of Barrington Systems, Inc. CLARION is NOT copy-protected and comes with FREE run-time licensing. 

Copyright 1987 Barrington Systems IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation dBase is a registered trademark of Ashton-Tate. 
CLARIONIZED is a trademark of Barrington Systems. Inc. Clipper is a registered trademark of Nantucket. Inc. 



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